SAMHSA SPF-SIG Grantee Hosts Underage Drinking Town Hall
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Boys and Girls Club of the Three Affiliated Tribes
New Town, North Dakota
INTRODUCTION
In North Dakota, nearly one in three 12- to 20-year-olds reported binge drinking in the past 30 days in 2012–2013, a rate that is substantially higher than the national rate of about one in seven youth. Binge drinking is particularly prevalent among Native American youth. Native Americans comprise 5.4 percent of the state’s population, and 40 percent of Native American youth are under age 20. Limited data find that Native Americans are less likely to drink than whites, but are more likely to report both heavy and binge drinking if they do use alcohol.
New Town, North Dakota, is the administrative center for the Fort Berthold Reservation, home of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes. New Town has experienced increases in alcohol- and drug-related crime, as large numbers of transient workers are drawn to the area by North Dakota’s oil and natural gas boom, overwhelming local resources. The Boys & Girls Club of the Three Affiliated Tribes (BGCTAT) serves about 1,600 youth in six Fort Berthold Reservation communities and provides underage drinking prevention for the area.
The group is using a Strategic Prevention Framework-State Incentive Grant (SPG-SIG) provided by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to increase prevention capacity and change the local pro-drinking culture. BGCTAT learned that adult family members in the community sometimes provide alcohol to minors in their homes, believing that this kept kids safer than if they drank at parties or in other settings. While residents urge authorities to address local crime, including illegal drugs, they show less concern about alcohol law violations, hence limited police and court response to underage drinking infractions. For example, the SPF-SIG coordinator for BGCTAT, Prairie Rose Seminole, notes that between January and June 2014 New Town courts dismissed about 2,000 cases, many of them alcohol-related, including many involving underage drinkers. Her organization planned an April 24, 2014, Town Hall Meeting to address these concerns and seek community feedback to guide their planning.
EVENT DESCRIPTION
The organizers planned the Town Hall Meeting around the following two goals:
- Educate grownups about why they should support underage drinking prevention, beginning at home; and
- Gather input from community members that could guide BGCTAT in its choice of prevention strategies.
During the event, a panel of coalition members reviewed data collected by local law enforcement that found, among other things, that 71 percent of 7,203 youth and adult arrests by local tribal law enforcement over a 2-year period were alcohol-related. Other data presented at the event showed that 42.4 percent of those surveyed in the New Town local service area said that it would “not be at all difficult” for youth in the community to purchase alcohol. This response is in stark contrast with the 7.9 percent of North Dakota residents statewide who believe that it would not be difficult for youth to obtain alcohol.
MEASURES OF SUCCESS
BGCTAT received 51 completed surveys from community members. Most said that they gained new information about the health, safety, and legal consequences of underage drinking. Feedback showed that the event instilled a new appreciation for the importance of clear no-alcohol rules for children and teens at home and in the community.
Respondents also identified the following priorities for BGCTAT future prevention efforts:
- Reducing youth alcohol access;
- Increasing local prevention resources; and
- Expanding alcohol education for youth, beginning in middle school.
NEXT STEPS
BGCTAT planned multiple steps for addressing the Town Hall Meeting survey findings. Action steps include:
- February 2015 training for law enforcement personnel;
- Collaboration in developing an alcohol-free campus proposal for Fort Berthold Community College; and
- Expansion of BGCTAT’s Smart Moves, Healthy Habits, Traditional Knowledge program for children and teens at six tribal locations.
BGCTAT is also partnering with youth, community leaders, law enforcement, and local media to host a weekly radio program and a series of prevention-themed public service announcements for KMHA 91.3 FM, “The Voice for the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation.”
CONTACT
Prairie Rose Seminole
pseminole@mhanation.com
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