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Empowerment Resource Center submits this grant application for the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP Program) under SAMHSA FY2022 Minority AIDS Initiative—Service Integration (Short Title: MAI-SI) NOFO No. SM-22-005. Under the ICP Program, Empowerment Resource Center (ERC) proposes to provide evidence-based, trauma-informed, and culturally appropriate mental health (MH) therapy and practices for individuals with MH or co-occurring (COD) disorders. ERC will target racial and ethnic minority adults, with or at risk of MH disorders and COD, and residing in the Atlanta metropolitan area, with one of more of the following experiences: self-injurious, suicidal, or risk taking behaviors; housing instability; and/or living with or at high-risk of HIV. The ICP Program will enroll clients based on their membership in the target population and their willingness to voluntarily participate. ERC will provide mental health therapy and resiliency services for 125 unduplicated members of the target population with MH disorders or COD, with a priority focus on African-American and Latino men and women, aged 18 years and older—approximately 5,375 client encounters, annually. Through its CARF-accredited MH and Integrated Outpatient Treatment Alcohol & Other Drugs (AOD) services (AOD/MH) and non-residential Intensive Outpatient Treatment programs, ERC will promote the proposed program, recruit and enroll participants, offer MH services for 500 unduplicated members of racial and ethnic minority groups, over the entire project period—an estimated 21,500 client encounters through September 29, 2026. ICP Program participants will be screened and assessed for MH/COD by licensed, trained, and qualified behavioral health (BH) providers. Upon enrollment, clinicians at the on-site ERC Comprehensive Intervention Clinic will provide rapid HIV testing, screen for TB and viral hepatitis, and link eligible participants to PrEP or long-term HIV/Hepatitis primary care. In-house MH providers will offer group- and individual-level MH therapy and resiliency services for participants, based on their Individual Resiliency and Recovery Plans (IRRP). In addition, the ERC Peer Leader will work with participants to create individualized Wellness Recovery Action Plans and conduct self-help support group sessions designed to develop coping and life management skills. Furthermore, participants will receive case management and resource coordination services that make active referrals to housing, transportation, evidence-based HIV behavioral, biomedical, and structural interventions, and other supportive services. Enrolled participants will also be encouraged to access hepatitis immunization services, HIV/hepatitis primary care linkages, and integrated STI screenings through the ERC clinic, as needed. Through the ICP Program, ERC will: (1) increase the accessibility of HIV and hepatitis prevention services within a BH care setting; (2) provide trauma-informed and culturally-appropriate evidence-based services for individuals with MH/COD; (3) provide peer support services for participants; (4) provide case management services to coordinate BH, primary care, HIV and hepatitis treatment, and supportive services; and (5) implement effective outreach strategies to promote proposed behavioral health services, and HIV and hepatitis primary care and prevention services. ERC, located in Atlanta (Fulton County), GA, is a not-for-profit, community-based organization with a valid IRS 501(C)(3) status. Services will be provided on-site at the ERC Comprehensive Intervention Clinic. Lisa Rudeseal, LPC, MS will serve as the ICP Program Director. ERC is a non-residential outpatient facility and is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) and permitted by the Georgia Department of Community Health, Drug Abuse Treatment and Education Program. Jacqueline Brown is the CEO and will serve as Principle Investigator.

The Community Health Center Inc. (CHC) will launch the Early Childhood Therapeutic Partnership (ECTP) project to expand and enhance existing mental health services for thousands of infants and children in underserved communities primarily in Lower Fairfield County while strengthening the clinical expertise of pediatric service providers nationally. Through CHC’s specialized pediatric mental health arm, the Child Guidance Center of Southern CT (CGC), the ECTP project will serve between 660-1350 children annually and over 4,100 in the first five years. Children served will be aged birth through 12 and primarily from BIPOC families in Lower Fairfield County, CT. They will receive an array of prevention, assessment, and intervention services to support their social emotional development and mental health. The direct service components of the ECTP project will include individual, group and family therapy, parent guidance, evidenced-based trauma treatments including Attachment, Self-Regulation and Competency (ARC), Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP), and Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), and psychiatric medication management services. Establishing a designated multi-disciplinary clinical assessment team to conduct comprehensive developmental evaluations (CDE) will shorten the 1-1.5 year current average wait time for CT families. Expanding an existing partnership between CGC and the Children’s Learning Center of Fairfield County (CLC) will increase access to mental health consultation (IECMHC) in state-subsidized preschools in Stamford CT. These direct service components of the ECTP project would become self-sustaining through fees for service. The education component of the ECTP project will strengthen the clinical expertise of the pediatric workforce serving vulnerable communities by training between 4-67 pediatric providers annually and a total of 182 providers nationally in the first five years. Through Learning Collaboratives, CHC’s learning management system, and Project ECHOs (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes), the ECTP project will bring CHC’s infant and early childhood mental health expertise to pediatric service providers across the country. CHC’s research, education, and policy arm, the Weitzman Institute, will lead these training components. The primary goals and measurable objectives of the ECTP project are: 1. Increase capacity, quality, and timely access to infant and early childhood assessment and intervention services by a) training additional clinicians to conduct CDEs, b) training at least 60 clinicians in CT in ARC, and c) training early pediatric mental health providers and educators from at least 8 communities nationally to develop, implement, and sustain preschool mental health assessment, intervention, and consultation services. 2. Increase CLC’s capacity to manage emotional/behavioral outbursts of young children so that a) 90% of CLC’s students will be in classrooms led by teachers with 1 year of Mirror IEMHC training, b) CLC will demonstrate a 50% decrease in behavioral incident reports and a 50% decrease in student expulsions, and c) evaluation of the Mirror Program will generate 1 manuscript published in a peer reviewed journal. 3. Individuals who receive ECTP mental health intervention services will experience increased functioning and decreased distress as demonstrated each year by a) 70% of children showing significant improvement on performance measures assessing changes in social-emotional functioning and behavior and b) 70% caregivers showing significant improvement on performance measures assessing parental stress.

In southwest Washington State, alcohol is the most common substance used by youth, and we have a lack of social norms campaigns addressing this specific substance use. Also, our region's schools need support in providing best practice education on dangers of alcohol use, updating their substance use discipline policies and practices, and would benefit from additional resources to support addressing the behavioral health needs of those youth. No programs are currently being implemented to address impaired driving or riding by youth. If funded, the Prevent Coalition would implement education, social media and social norms campaigns to reduce youth alcohol use and decrease instances of youth either driving after drinking, or riding with impaired drivers. We would work with schools to strengthen their policies to insure alcohol infractions were treated appropriately and to increase services to treat students for their use, instead of only using punishment. Local policy-makers and elected officials would be educated on our region's youth alcohol use and its consequences and on the policy tools that could impact those trends. We would be focusing on addressing the alcohol use of youth in grades 6 through 12, in southwest Washington State. The communities served would include the urban and suburban Clark County, with a population of 508,000 and the adjoining rural Klickitat and Skamania Counties, with a total population of 34,000 people. There is a blend of urban, suburban and rural youth, and strategies will be tailored to address the specific needs and characteristics of the differing populations. the ethnicity demographics of the youth in the region are: White/Caucasian 56%, One or more races 15%, Hispanic 14%, Asian 6%, Black 3%, other 3% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 2%, American Indian 1%.

Substance Abuse Connect, a coalition in Billings (Montana's largest city located in Yellowstone County) will use STOP Grant Funds to address the complicated problems of underage drinking in a state that ranks 46 out of 50 states for high prevalence of excessive adult drinking, with 21.7% of adults reporting binge drinking compared to 17.6% in the United States. MT has the third highest rate of alcohol-induced death in the country (20.3 per 100,000) with a 38% increase in alcohol-induced deaths between 2018 and 2019, the highest increase in the nation. Not surprisingly Yellowstone County youth are worse off than their Montana peers in most measures of underage drinking, and risk and protective factors. Montana youth, in general, are worse off than their U.S. peers. Three groups suffer disproportionately in Billings: Native American Non Reservation, Hispanic, and LGBTQ+ youth. STOP Grant funds will enable the coalition to enhance existing focus groups and social media campaigns by adding a focus on these populations. Because of successful virtual work during COVID, the coalition is also aiming to increase virtual events, including doubling the number of virtual Ask A Therapist events conducted in partnership with Billings Public Schools via Facebook Live; introducing eight Brief Facebook Lives with the Billings School Superintendent and an expert to address the topics surfacing in focus groups. The superintendent gets a lot of traction with his Facebook Lives so this is expected to be effective with reaching parents. Two virtual Town Halls will also be conducted to get public input on underage drinking challenges and solutions. The COVID pandemic exacerbated isolation, dependence on social media, and fractured the nerves of parents and teachers. Screen time among teenagers doubled from pre-pandemic estimates of 3.8 hours per day up to 7.7 hours. Parents and teachers both report heightened conflict with youth around technology, with this being the #1 concern in Billings Public schools. Research shows a clear link with social media exposure and underage drinking risk. Social media can be a positive or negative tool for youth. With help from the STOP grant, the coalition aims to make social media a safe and protective experience for youth and families rather than increase risk for drinking initiation, glamorization of alcohol, use of alcohol for numbing mental health pain. Youth in Montana are twice as likely as their peers in the rest of the country to die from suicide, with one fifth (19.4%) of Yellowstone County high schoolers saying they made a plan to attempt suicide in 2021. When disaggregated for MT high schoolers: 28% of Native American Non Reservation youth made a plan; 29.3% of Hispanic students, 14.6% of White students; and 42% of youth who report being victimized because they are lesbian, gay, or bisexual. The intervention will be to implement Digital Citizen Academy in all Billings public middle and high schools. The research-based intervention has components for youth, teachers, and parents and is proven to increase youth internet safety, family guidelines for media use, positive school climate, and decrease school technology infractions 66%. Finally, an Underage Drinking Advisory group will be established to oversee the work that includes a cross-section of governmental, nonprofit, parents, business, and school partners. This includes the Yellowstone County DUI Task Force, YC Suicide Prevention Coalition (alcohol contributes 42% of suicides in MT), the Billings Police Underage Drinking Enforcement Team, and parents. The coalition will lean on Native American Non Reservation, Hispanic, and LGBTQ+ members for assistance with the equity focus.

Southeastern Regional Action Council (SERAC) is a regional substance abuse prevention coalition that serves 41 communities in Eastern CT. Our mission is unite the communities of Eastern CT to reduce the impact of substance abuse, problem gambling, and mental health challenges. This is achieved through prevention theory, needs assessment, capacity building, and advocacy. Project Name: ALLI (Adolescent Learning and Leadership Institute) The program goals are to: (1) address norms regarding alcohol use by youth, (2) reduce opportunities for underage drinking, (3) create changes in underage drinking enforcement efforts, (4) address penalties for underage use, and/or (5) reduce negative consequences associated with underage drinking (e.g., motor vehicle crashes, sexual assaults). The main objective of the STOP Act Grant is to reduce the rate of binge alcohol use (4 or more drinks) among youth and young adults by 25% from baseline by September 2026 by implementing the Adolescent Learning and Leadership Program by September 2026. The program goal is to serve approximately 70 youth per year over the four years of the grant.

The Wellness & Prevention Coalition proposes to use STOP Act funding to build our capacity to address the health disparities encountered in our Latino community, specifically the higher reported rates of alcohol use. We propose to do this by increasing community collaboration, lowering Latino youth underage alcohol use, and ensuring sustainability of the Latino community participation in raising healthy youth in San Clemente.

California Baptist University (CBU), in collaboration with the Healthy Jurupa Valley Coalition and the Jurupa Unified School District (JUSD), has a long-standing partnership to reduce substance use and abuse in the City of Jurupa Valley through the Drug-Free Communities (DFC). The STOP ACT funding will enhance the projects ability to reduce alcohol use among youth in Jurupa Valley by providing information, improving skills to abstain from alcohol use, reducing youth access to alcohol, and modifying local policies to reduce youth alcohol use. The Healthy Jurupa Valley Drug-Free Communities (DFC) project is focused on the city of Jurupa Valley, a suburban-to-rural area, predominantly Hispanic and Latino with low-to-moderate income in Riverside County. JUSD is the only school district in the area and is comprised of three middle schools (6-8) and four high schools (9-12). The Riverside County Sheriff's Department provides law enforcement services for the city. The Public Health Institute has labeled Riverside County a Challenging County due to high alcohol use rates among youth and alcohol-related hospitalizations and deaths among those ages 13-19 that are significantly higher than the state average (PHI, 2018). Our own DFC Core Measures Survey data reveals that 16.4% of youth ages 12-18 in Jurupa Valley report using alcohol at least once in the past 30 days (DFC, 2020). Alcohol use among females was 11% higher than for other subgroups in 2021. Our data also reveals that 36% of youth perceive little or no harm associated with alcohol use, 32% of youth report that it is somewhat or very easy to obtain alcohol (particularly from social sources), and only 54% report that their parents thought it was very wrong or wrong to use alcohol. Approximately 22% of middle and 31% of high school students report low confidence (e.g., self-efficacy) to refute peer pressure to use alcohol. Furthermore, our survey data reveals that most parents (67%) have not communicated to their teens that using alcohol is wrong, and almost 32% of teens report being able to access alcohol in the community and use alcohol in their own home (DFC, 2020). As a result, there is now an unprecedented need to focus on alcohol use prevention among youth and young adults in Jurupa Valley, yet few resources to do so. This project aims to: (1) address norms regarding alcohol use by youth, (2) reduce opportunities for underage drinking, (3) create changes in underage drinking prevention and enforcement efforts, and (4) address penalties for underage use. We propose to enhance the community's ability to prevent alcohol use among teens through: (1) a parent training program to increase parent-child communication and set consequences about alcohol use: (2) implementing an evidence-based alcohol prevention curriculum in JUSD middle and high schools by providing teacher training, implementation assistance, and ongoing teacher support; (3) increase awareness of the City of Jurupa Valley's Social Host Ordinance through community education and policy development; (4) collaborate with the Jurupa Valley Sheriff's Department to enforce the Social Host Ordinance. We expect to reach 600-800 students and their parents per year with the alcohol prevention program, modify city policy to increase community awareness of teen alcohol use, and provide ongoing community education. We intend to evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies (both process and outcome evaluation) through continuous program monitoring and youth surveys, including survey items related to alcohol use, perceived risk, and parent and peer disapproval of alcohol use.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has also been a large increase in hard liquor sales for off premise establishments, including gas stations. The need for Jones County that will be addressed with these funds is to increase the capacity of evidence-based strategies to include strategies that address the areas of increased access. Increased access points for Jones County include, gas stations, drive through and curbside to-go cocktails and other alcoholic beverages, and alcohol home delivery systems. By addressing these access points, ASAC and Jones County Safe and Healthy Youth Coalition will increase the effectiveness addressing underage drinking in the community.

The Monroe County Coalition (MCC), is a drug-free coalition accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA), and is in its 15th year of operation in Florida's southernmost county (82,874 people, US Census 2020 Quick Facts). MCC's DFC funds are set to expire 9.29.22. We propose to implement the Sober Truth Project with the following overarching goal: By 9.29.26 among 12 20-year-olds countywide, prevent and/or reduce past 30-day alcohol use by 5% as evidenced by data from FYSAS for middle and high school students. The demographics of our 12 20-year-old youth population of focus will be approximately: 40% White/Non-Hispanic; 22% Hispanic; 22% Black; 16% Other/Multi Race. Other beneficiaries of our project include parents, visitors, business employees, and more. In total, we expect the Sober Truth Project will reach at least 20,000 individuals each year of our 5-year project period. With a generally laid-back lifestyle, the Keys tropical haven feels like a taste of paradise for many. However, many experience a hefty price tag when alcohol is involved. Monroe County has the largest number of bars relative to the population size (a startling four-fold rate 17.5 per 10,000 compared to 4.03 and 4.22 bars per 10,000 people in the US and Florida respectively). The effects of such flagrant exposure to alcohol availability and promotion on our Monroe youth is demonstrated in the biannual 2020 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (FYSAS) which reflects the incidence of underage alcohol consumption to be significantly higher, in some cases double, among Monroe youth when compared to their state peers. Alarmingly, 56.8% of Monroe high school students have consumed alcohol in their lifetime, 29.6% in the past 30 days and nearly a quarter of all HS students (23.8%) reported drinking alcohol until blackout. Our local alcohol data point to three needs for enhanced alcohol infrastructure: (1) Monroe's female students represent the largest alcohol using group (lifetime alcohol use at 47% compared to 38% of their female peers); (2) Binge drinking among local youth, on a downward trajectory since 2012 at 18.8%, is now again on the rise; and (3) The Hispanic/Latinx population had the most growth over the past decade yet alcohol prevention materials in Spanish have not kept pace. These, and other issues suggest a need for enhanced capacity to respond. Our STOP project approach will employ a combination of enhanced infrastructure development, as well as evidence-based practices and programs, collaborative expertise, and community dialog to lay the groundwork for truly effective comprehensive underage alcohol prevention response that collectively will: reduce unhealthy norms (e.g., Hidden in Plain Sight, peer-to-peer alcohol specific enhanced Tik Tok social norming videos, SAMHSA's Talk They Hear You campaign [Spanish too]); reduce opportunities for underage drinking (e.g., WE ID signage, RVT training, No One's House is a Safe Place for Teen Drinking campaign [Spanish too]); create changes in underage drinking enforcement efforts (e.g., quarterly Compliance Checks, Merchant Recognition with businesses that did not sell to minors, Party Patrols); reduce negative consequences associated with underage drinking (Alcohol Edu and Alcohol-Wise, All Stars, Parent-Wise; and build on our 12-month strategic action plan. Our project partners will include Monroe County Sheriff Office, Florida Keys Children's Shelter (FKCS), Westcare (Guidance Care Center/GCC), Educational Coalition for Monroe County (ECMC) and Marathon's Middle and High School's Champions for Change, and others. Our project evaluation consultant, Lee Crandall. Ph.D., medical sociologist, health services researcher, and social epidemiologist, will provide a lead role in performance assessment and continuous quality improvement.

Project name: Urban Partnership Drug Free Community Coalition (UPDFCC) STOP Program Population to be served: At-risk youth population ages 12-17 attending one of six participating schools in zip codes 33127, 331136-38, 33142, 33150, 333161-2, and 33169. Overall, the target community is 62.7% Black, 27.6% Hispanic and 7.5% Non-Hispanic White. The Haitian ethnicity/culture has a huge impact on the area with the largest concentration of Haitian residents in the county resides in the target area. Strategies/interventions: The STOP Program will achieve overall movement in societal change by: (i) changing social norms (targeted prevention education and mass media awareness, public policy, best practices and local data dissemination ); (ii) reducing availability and consumption of alcohol by youth (local data dissemination; capacity building of youth coalition to lead campaigns; youth-led awareness campaigns) and (iii) increasing involvement of the government official and the local community in prevention activities (Town Hall Meetings, neighborhood campaigns). Project Goals: (1) Strengthening community collaboration and building capacity to reduce the prevalence of underage drinking; and, 2) Enhancing the coalition's capacity to implement environmental-level interventions to shift community norms and change attitudes surrounding underage drinking. Number of people to be served: 5000 annually and 20,000 over project life span.

Northern Light Mayo Hospital 897 W Main Street, Dover-Foxcroft, ME 04426 Project Director: Hillary Starbird Contact Phone Number: 207.564.4184 Email Address: hstarbird@northernlight.org https://www.northernlighthealth.org/mayo MRH Corp., (dba Northern Light Mayo Hospital (Mayo)) in coordination with the Piscataquis Youth Substance Use Prevention Coalition (PYSUP) has developed a program to meet the significant need in the population of focus to reduce the adverse effects of alcohol consumption by youth. The population of focus (POF) for our proposed project is youth aged 12-20 residing in Piscataquis County, Maine who indicate a very low perception of risk related to underaged alcohol, including low perception of risk from consumption of five or more drinks. Correspondingly, this POF indicates higher than state averages for past-30-day consumption of “5 or more drinks at one time. The POF also reflects concerningly high percentages of youth whose peer perception of disapproval of alcohol use is little or not wrong. Given the margins of error in the 2020 Census, we estimate the POF to be 1600 individuals. All locations in Piscataquis County, where this POF resides, are designated rural and eligible for rural health grants according to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Substance use prevention resources are scarce and community partners rely on strong collaboration with multi-sector organizations to reach remote towns and residents The PYSUP Coalition will utilize the STOP Act Grant to achieve its goal of reducing youth alcohol use and increasing youth perception of risk of being caught. To achieve this goal the PYSUP coalition will develop a 12-month action plan each year of funding that is responsive to the MIYHS data, and which is in coordination with local DFC activities. Compliance checks will enhance protection against youth obtaining alcohol and two townhall meetings and seasonal mailers and informational campaigns will support community members education regarding youth alcohol use. Partnerships with local and state agencies will enhance access, reduce barriers, and improve connections between systems and services that prevent youth alcohol use. TIPS Trainings will be provided to alcohol retailers and servers and staff of area establishments. The coalition's second objective of decreasing youths perceptions of the likelihood that they will not be caught by law enforcement will be achieved via Party Patrols provided by law enforcement partners, social media campaigns, and education from the law enforcement officials provided at town halls. The work plan/timeline of this STOP Act grant application has been crafted to be complementary to the activities already funded under PYSUP's DFC grant activities with no programmatic, budgetary, or commitment of personnel time overlap.

Project Name: Enhancing Prevention Efforts to STOP Underage Drinking The Hamtramck Drug Free Community Coalition (HDFCC) will enhance the prevention efforts associated with youth use of alcohol by increasing our outreach efforts by partnering with WHPL Channel 19 to educate a broader portion of the community. In addition, we will increase our state collaboration by partnering with the Michigan Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking (MCRUD). The target population for HDFCC's proposed project is youth (ages 12-20) in the 48212 zip code area, which consists of Hamtramck and portions of Detroit, Michigan. The Coalition focuses its services primarily on youth, including those who frequently come into contact with youth, such as parents, education professionals, religious leaders, and business owners. Implementation strategies focus on helping adult role models support youth in their healthy and drug-free development within our community. Though the Coalition focuses specifically on the City of Hamtramck, the City's nature as an urban center within a more sparsely-populated area of Detroit means that many youth who live just outside Hamtramck's borders also benefit from the Coalition's programs and services, even if they technically live in Detroit. Goal One: Increase the capacity of coalition members to work with community partners in reducing alcohol visibility and accessibility for youth Measurable Objective: By September 2023, reduce visibility, sales, and accessibility of alcohol for underage youth by 20% Strategy: Partner with law enforcement to develop a plan to institute alcohol vendor compliance checks. Strategy: Join planning committees for city-sponsored events to offer prevention perspectives about alcohol at events Strategy: Increase involvement with Michigan Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking (MCRUD) to play a role in affecting alcohol policies and further connect with the Michigan Liquor Control Committee (MLCC) Goal Two: Reduce youth alcohol use in the community by implementing evidence-based strategies for community level change. Measurable Objective: By September 2023, reduce youth alcohol use by 20% as measured by MiPHY data Strategy: Reach secondary populations who affect youth behavior by expanding Teachers Talk and Parents Partner meetings and conducting parent events Strategy: Magnify the audience for coalition activities and prevention messaging by partnering with WHPL Channel 19 which reaches up to 5 million people. Addressing our unique community, by translating materials into other languages such as Arabic, Bengali, Polish, Bosnian, Ukrainian. People to be served: Annually- 4,000 Life of the project-20,000.

Summary: Choosing Wellness to Prevent Underage Drinking is a novel initiative to decrease underage drinking by targeting underlying mental health risk factors. The program will train key stakeholders who frequently interact with youth (e.g. parents and school faculty) to be more aware of signs and symptoms of mental health difficulties, and help them feel more comfortable referring youth to appropriate resources. Additionally, youth will be educated on prosocial coping mechanisms for dealing with stress and on the resources available regionally to support their mental health. The overarching theme of these trainings, presentations, and informational materials will be Choose Wellness encouraging all residents to take an active part in their holistic health. Target Population: This project targets East Haddam Youth Ages 12-20. Total school enrollment for the East Haddam School District in the 2020-21 school year was approximately 930 students, of which 287 were in elementary school, 349 were in middle school, and 294 were in high school. Estimated annual student population impacted by the program will be 435 students. The number of students impacted by the program over the lifetime of the program is expected to be 675. Project Goals: - Increase the capacity of the East Haddam Local Prevention Council to address behavioral health issues as they contribute to alcohol use among East Haddam youth ages 12-20. - Increase the capacity of the community stakeholders to address behavioral health issues as they contribute to alcohol use among East Haddam youth ages 12-20. - Mitigate community norms and geographic conditions that contribute to alcohol use among East Haddam youth ages 12-20. Key Objectives: - EHLPC will contract with mental health professionals to provide mental health education to 75% of Nathan Hale Ray High School staff, 75% of NHRHS students, and 100 parents by September 29, 2025. - EHLPC will incorporate alcohol-focused multimedia messaging into Choose Wellness campaign by September 29, 2023. - EHLPC will host a mental health fair under the Choose Wellness branding by July 30, 2024. - East Haddam Police will provide three trainings to targeted community sectors (Civic, Religious, Parents) on how to recognize and report underage drinking parties in remote and secluded locations (e.g. the woods) by September 29th, 2023. Key Strategies: - Mental Health First Aid training for adults who frequently interact with youth (e.g. parents and school faculty). - Choose Wellness media campaign messaging. - Training for parents, school staff, and students on recognizing mental health issues in youth and how to refer to appropriate resources. - Party patrols and the training of residents to utilize the police anonymous tip line to deter underage drinking parties.

Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act Grant Abstract: Windham Southwest Supervisory Union/Deerfield Valley Community Partnership The Deerfield Valley Community Partnership (DVCP) is committed to implementing strategies to prevent and reduce alcohol use among youth in the rural communities of Wilmington, Whitingham, Halifax, Stamford, Dover and Readsboro, Vermont. The projected number of persons to be served by the STOP Act project includes 500 parents, 352 youth, 50 retailers and servers and 3,000 community members. DVCP has adopted the following goals for the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act Grant: -Reduce underage access to alcohol in order to reduce underage drinking. -Strengthen collaborations and coordination on the issue of youth alcohol use. Objectives include: increase coalition capacity; increase youth knowledge and skills of the Strategic Prevention Framework; increase youth involvement in the coalition; increase retailer and server knowledge and implementation of best practices for decreasing youth access to alcohol; increase parent and community involvement in decreasing youth access to alcohol.

The Wilmington Coalition for a Healthy Community (WCHC) under its fiscal agent, the City of Wilmington, Illinois, will implement the WCHC Underage Drinking Prevention Initiative under the 2022 STOP Act Grant. The project will serve youth ages 12-20 in Wilmington School District 209-U with evidence-based and environmental programs designed to reduce underage drinking. The WCHC initiative will focus on (1) improving and increasing messaging to youth and adults about the risks and dangers of alcohol use by youth, (2) increasing positive messaging about actual behavioral norms ("most kids don't drink") and (3) promoting messages from adults that discourage youth from drinking, that discourage other adults from allowing or enabling youth to drink, and that encourage youth to seek out help if they or someone they know is experiencing problems related to alcohol. The WCHC Underage Drinking Prevention Initiative seeks to reduce the percentage of Wilmington 10th and 12th graders who report past 30-day use of alcohol, as measured by the Illinois Youth Survey. Under Objective 1, the WCHC initiative seeks to reduce by 5 percentage points the percentage of Wilmington School District 209-U 8th graders who report past 30-day use of alcohol. Strategies for achieving this objective will focus on two important contributing factors for increases in underage drinking in this age group: Teens' perceptions that drinking is not harmful and Teens' perceptions that alcohol is easy to obtain. Under Objective 2, the WCHC initiative seeks to reduce by 6 percentage points the percentage of Wilmington School District 209-U 10th graders who report consuming alcohol in the past 30 days. Strategies for achieving Objective 2 will include the use of a normative education campaign to correct students' inflated perceptions of how many youth are drinking, along with parent and community communications campaign to discourage acceptance and enabling of youth alcohol use.

North Oakland Community Coalition STOP Underage Drinking Project Abstract The North Oakland Community Coalition (NOCC), an established prevention coalition serving the communities of Oxford and Lake Orion, Michigan, will utilize funding from the STOP Act Grant to increase capacity and infrastructure to meet the needs of the community following the tragic school shooting at Oxford High School on November 30th, 2021. This act of violence created an immediate need to work closely with community partners to increase the protective factors that will support youth and their families through the healing and recovery process, while also reduce risk factors that lead to youth and family misuse of alcohol. This project will support the entire Orion/Oxford community with a population of 60,625 individuals, with an emphasis on youth aged 12-20 and their parents, a target population of 27,584 people every year. Throughout the five years of the project, the NOCC expects to impact 60,000 individuals. NOCC will address the following goals and objectives: Goal 1: Strengthen prevention capacity/infrastructure at the community level Objective 1: By 9/29/2026, increase community capacity for underage drinking prevention by increasing community prevention initiatives by 10% as measured by the number of prevention activities and campaign that are implemented at the local level. Goal 2: Reduce youth alcohol use among 6th-12th grade students. Objective 1: By 09/29/2026, alcohol use among 6th-12th grade students will decrease by 5% as evidenced by the NOCC Student Survey. Goal 3: Increase perception of risk of alcohol use among 6th-12th grade students. Objective 1: By 09/29/2026, increase perception of risk of alcohol use among 6th-12th grade students by 5% as evidenced by the NOCC Student Survey. Goal 4: Reduce teen access to alcohol among 6th-12th grade students. Objective 1: By 09/29/2026, reduce teen access to alcohol among 6th-12th grade students by 8% as evidenced by the NOCC Student Survey. The NOCC will accomplish these goals utilizing the Strategic Prevention Framework, rich in evidence-based best practices, to partner with local schools, organizations, parents and youth to create an implementation plan that serves the unique needs of our community. Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion plan will inform our work to ensure this project serves all, and special focus will be placed on serving our disparate populations identified in 2020 and 2022 youth data surveys. The action plan will include all Seven Strategies for Prevention and will be continually monitored for necessary changes to meet community needs. Continual assessment will allow us to identify areas and populations of greatest need and our planning will remain fluid to meet these needs. Evaluation will be conducted through student surveys, parent/community surveys, and focus groups directed by our Data Analyst and data will be shared with all community stakeholders through annual key findings reports and throughout the year to the greater community.

The DPI STOPs Underage drinking project proposes expanding and enhancing prevention services in the City of Decatur. Decatur is a current Drug-Free Communities recipient, and all of our efforts are data-driven and based on the Strategic Prevention Framework. This project will address community norms, reduce opportunities for underage drinking, increase enforcement efforts, examine underage drinking penalties, and build awareness of the negative consequences of underage drinking. For the first time, DPI proposes establishing a college-based youth action team to assist with the planning and implementation of many of these efforts. This project proposed to offer multiple strategies, as determined by the Community Anti-Drug Coalition of America (CADCA), to help create community-level change. This project will target youth ages 12-20 and their families by providing information, enhancing skills, providing support, reducing access, changing consequences, and modifying policies and practices. The project will offer such activities as a Sticker Shock campaign, a series of public awareness campaigns, forums on the negative consequences of underage drinking, and a parent handbook to guide parents during an identified high-risk time for their emerging adults. DPI will also provide input into existing policies and procedures for students who engage in underage drinking and conduct an annual Town Hall forum to gain community insight and feedback on underage drinking. DPI has commitments from nine critical local agencies and organizations to assist with developing an action plan and carrying out that plan. These agencies and organizations have specific roles and responsibilities to ensure the effective delivery of the proposed strategies. With their support, DPI will produce a behavioral health disparity impact statement and will utilize this statement in ensure that under-resourced youth and families are given a priority for services during the project. DPI anticipates reaching at least 3500 young people annually. However, with environmental strategies, it is expected that this project will impact the entire community of over 25,000 people. DPI will communicate our efforts and success with the lessons learned throughout the project.

Clark County Partners in Prevention will enhance and expand the capacity of their coalition to conduct underage drinking prevention activities in Clark County, Ohio. Targeting youth ages 12-20 and reaching all 60,000 households in the community, the coalition will provide educational activities that build community readiness and environmental strategies that decrease alcohol advertising signage and that train alcohol establishment staff on safe serving practices. Clark County Partners in Prevention will address community conditions and attitudes that are favorable to alcohol use by youth ages 12-20 in Clark County, Ohio. Risk factors include a third of the area's children living in poverty, a third of high school youth who live with someone with an alcohol or drug use problem, easy retail access to alcohol by youth, and favorable adult attitudes towards alcohol use including binge drinking and public intoxication at family friendly events, such as at community festivals. To address these risk factors, the coalition will conduct the following strategies: train coalition members, community members, and government officials on the impact of underage drinking; conduct a community assessment and environmental scan of the underage drinking problem; host Hidden in Plain Sight events and Town Halls; advocate for enforcement and compliance checks with alcohol retailers; review and update jurisdictions alcohol signage policies; advocate for safe serving practices with alcohol establishments including conducting TIPS trainings; review and revise DORA policies; increase the number of certified facilitators to teach evidence-based prevention programs targeting parents including initiating a parent peer mentoring program; implement the Minimize Risk-Maximize Life program at local colleges and treatment facilities; disseminate Parents Who Host Lose the Most materials and rack cards; launch a Talk. They Hear You. campaign at local movie theaters; collect data regarding community attitudes, youth alcohol use, and program outcomes; develop a 12-month Action Plan and implement identified strategies; and utilize trainings, resources, tip sheets, and podcasts available through the PTTC to enhance the coalition's efforts. These strategies and interventions are designed to reach the following intended goals and outcomes, which will be measured through a systematic data collection and quality improvement process. Goals include: (1) increasing the community's awareness of underage drinking prevalence and risks in the community; (2) improving alcohol retailer's ability to disallow sales of alcohol to youth; (3) increasing parents awareness of the problem and ability to prevent their youth from drinking; (4) decreasing alcohol signage in already saturated communities; (5) improving current signage policies and enforcement efforts; and (6) expanding training on safe serving practices with local retailers. To achieve these goals, the following measurable objectives have been established: review, modify, and enforce healthier alcohol signage policies, thereby decreasing signage in all 16 targeted alcohol retailers; conducting evidence-based alcohol retail server training with ten alcohol retailers, ensuring that youth will report a 20% decrease in alcohol retail access compared to 2021 baseline data; implementing six community awareness campaigns, including educational materials that will reach all 60,000 households in Clark County with the aim that youth will report a 25% increase in parental disapproval of youth alcohol use. Clark County Partners in Prevention requests $50,000 per year for five years from the STOP Act grant to provide the proposed project's strategies and interventions that will achieve the above stated goals and measurable objectives. If awarded, the coalition will reach an estimated 27,000 people per year and 135,000 people throughout the lifetime of the project. This includes all 60,000 households in Clark County, Ohio.

The Collaborating For Youth Drug Free Communities Coalition will effectively reduce underage and youth alcohol use through evidence-based and best practices in prevention. PA Youth Survey (2021) and Monitoring The Future (2021) data reflect the startling impact of community norms, laws, and other risks to youth indicating that our rural, south central PA communities are nearly 10% higher than national rates for regular (30-day) alcohol use. Strategies aligned within the Strategic Prevention Framework and as recommended in STOP guidelines will shift perceptions of harm, acceptability and accessibility that were detrimentally impacted over the course of COVID-19 and were historically trending upwards in our region. Specific attention to linguistically appropriate, culturally engaged and appropriate measures in partnership with our LatinX community coalition members in La Communidad will support engagement and decision making by the populations we seek to serve. This STOP grant project comes at a critical time in our community's successfully sustained DFC history. Through multi-sector engagement and thoughtful, collaborative change measures we seek to reduce, prevent, and eliminate youth alcohol use in Adams County, Pennsylvania. As home to the historic Gettysburg Battlefield with a 3.1 million visitation rate to our local communities annually, this STOP grant project has an impact beyond our local population as an example of Drug Free Communities efforts and underage alcohol prevention at a national level.

STOP Act funding will provide the capacity for Cape May County Healthy Community Coalition to address new realities of underage drinking in Cape May County: youth using alcohol to cope with COVID; laws limiting police to impose sanctions on youth for underage drinking; and parental and adult much needed accountability and understanding of liabilities dealing with youth's underage drinking in a tourist community. The 2022 Pride Survey results require a call to action in addressing underage drinking since COVID 19 began. Other trending drug use issues, such as marijuana legalization, prescription drug misuse and heroin and fentanyl have also increased; yet for youth, alcohol remains the overwhelming drug of choice. As data show, most people that use and try other drugs begin with drinking underage drinking. There is an urgent need to reduce underage drinking now through adult accountability where it now lacks for youth, who are quickly becoming aware of police's tied hands from a toothless legislation impeding their ability to act with legal consequence. The goals of this program are to: decrease underage alcohol use among Cape May County high school students by reinforcing penalties to adults who serve alcohol to underage youth; reduce alcohol access to Cape May County high school students by working with businesses that sell and serve alcohol; and to decrease alcohol use in Cape May County by implementing evidence-based programs within the county school districts that address alcohol misuse with alternatives to suspension.

Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse (L.A. CADA) established our CARE Coalition DFC project in 2013 to prevent and reduce substance use among youth ages 18 and younger in the Greater Whittier community of Southern California (Whittier and neighboring cities of Downey, Norwalk, Montebello, Pico Rivera, and Santa Fe Springs). Our STOP project will focus solely on prevention/reduction of underage drinking among youth ages 12-20. Greater Whittier is a young community 23% of residents are 18 or younger, and 10% live in poverty. From 75% - 81% of youth here are Latino (our participants preferred term), and they are exposed to high cultural tolerance of binge or fiesta drinking. Research shows that 33% of Latinos who become alcohol dependent have recurrent or persistent problems compared with 22.8% of non-Hispanic Whites. Studies also suggest that alcohol use behaviors of family members increase the likelihood of youth drinking. Thus, L.A. CADA's STOP project will address family and cultural norms for drinking among local Latino youth. It is expected that 100 unduplicated youth 12-20 and 100 unduplicated family members will be served annually via: 1) a STOP sub-committee to engage diverse stakeholders; 2) annual Town Hall meetings and small focus groups; 3) community underage drinking awareness presentations; and 4) a social media campaign focused on prevention and reduction of underage drinking for youth 12-20 in the Greater Whittier community.

Summary of Project: Through implementing the steps of the Strategic Prevention Framework, Addiction Prevention Coalition (APC) has designed a comprehensive program to prevent and reduce alcohol use among youth and young adults ages 12-20 in Birmingham, Alabama. The program seeks to change norms regarding the acceptability of underage use of alcohol and includes strategies to reduce social and retail youth access to alcohol. Project Name: Addiction Prevention Coalition STOP Act Program for Birmingham, Alabama. Population(s) to be Served: Demographics/Clinical Characteristics of youth ages 12-18 (Grades 6-12) in Birmingham City Schools, AL: Total Population 10,394 with 90.5% Black or African American, 4.5% White, approximately 2% Two or More Races or American Indian/Native American; 66.5% Economically Disadvantaged. Demographics/Clinical Characteristics of the general population of Birmingham, AL: Total Population 197,575 with 68.3% Black or African American, 26.6% White, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino; 24.7% of the population living in poverty. Strategies/Interventions: APC has developed a comprehensive Project Timeline (Action Plan) that incorporates the goals of the STOP Act Grant and utilizes the Seven Strategies for Community Level Change. Strategies include providing information, enhancing skills, providing support, reducing access/enhancing barriers, changing consequences, changing physical design and educating and informing about changing policies. Project Goals/Measurable Objectives: Goal One: Increase community collaboration; Objective 1: By September 29, 2026, Addiction Prevention Coalition will have increased intergovernmental cooperation and coordination by adding 8 new coalition members as measured by the coalition meeting attendance tracking spreadsheet; Objective 2: By September 29, 2026, Addiction Prevention Coalition will have held 4 Town Hall meetings though Birmingham Neighborhood Associations to increase citizen participation to give input into strategies as measured by event sign-in sheets and updates to Action Plan; Goal Two: Prevent and reduce alcohol use among youth and young adults ages 12-20 in Birmingham, Alabama; Objective 1: By September 29, 2026, increase perception of risk of alcohol use by 5% in youth (Grades 6-12) in Birmingham City Schools as measured by the APC Student Survey (Baseline 2022 Survey: 60.96% of 6th-12th grade students responded Moderate Risk or Great Risk when asked - How much do you think people risk harming themselves physically or in other ways when they have five or more drinks of an alcoholic beverage once or twice a week?) Number to be Served: Annual: Year 1-2,500; Year 2-2,500; Year 3-2,500; Year 4 2,500. Total Served through Lifetime of Project: 10,000 In addition to the number served, APC will reach individuals in Birmingham City with prevention education and environmental initiatives through digital media campaigns and school alcohol use policies.

Porter County Substance Abuse Council (PCSAC) has identified Porter County as the catchment area and target population. More specifically, the STOP Act project will concentrate alcohol prevention and reduction strategies within the geographically isolated areas of Porter County with an emphasis on High School and Middle School youth between 12 to 20 years of age. Geographically, Porter County sits in the northwest corner of Indiana, 3 hours north of Indianapolis and 45 minutes east of Chicago. The county is a mix of urban and rural; top industries include agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, and education. The US Census (2020) recorded a population of 169,594. The racial makeup of the county was 82.8% White, 4.2% Black or African American, 0.4% Native American, 1.5% Asian, 1.1% from two or more races. The Hispanic/Latino community doubled in size over the past 5 years from 4.82% in 2013 to 10.3% in 2020. Population is concentrated within the three largest cities in Porter County: Portage (36,505), Chesterton (13,441), and Valparaiso (33,104). The STOP Act will expand exiting alcohol prevention and reduction infrastructure to support over 15,000 residents living in more remote areas of the county. The goal of the PCSAC STOP Act project is to Reduce 30-day Alcohol Use among 12th grade students from the 2020 baseline of 33.3% to 30% (-3.3) by 2024 as measured by the Indiana Youth Survey. To achieve this goal the PCSAC STOP Act Project will expand and enhance our current youth alcohol use prevention and reduction strategies by: 1.Expanding current SPF Planning and development to include alcohol-specific component. 2. MHFA will be expanded to include brief screening for alcohol use disorders and offered countywide, 3. REAL Media will be expanded to 3 middle schools (Chesterton, Portage, and Valparaiso) and four additional high schools (Hebron, Kouts, Morgan, and Washington), 4. MOS will be enhanced to include monthly youth alcohol use prevention programming featuring youth and adult storylines. The enhancements include social media and direct messaging materials targeting underage drinking, 5. Sticker shock will be expanded to double the current volume in the first two years with the aim of maximizing utilization countywide, and 6. Included in Sticker Shock strategy is the promotion of legislation and/or policies that require the use of Sticker Shock or similar anti-underage drinking messaging.

The Dover Coalition for Youth (DCFY) is a community-based drug and alcohol coalition founded in 1993. The DCFY's STOP Act Grant Project will prevent and reduce alcohol use among youth and young adults ages 12-20 by strengthening our prevention programming in the community, raise the perception of harm of underage and high risk drinking by youth, integrate tailored prevention programming to high risk populations, and enhance liquor licensee oversight and collaboration. The City of Dover, New Hampshire has a population of more than 33,000 people and is the fifth largest and the fastest growing community in the state. The population of focus for this grant will be those aged 12-20 that live and go to school in Dover, UNH college students living in Dover, and parents of any of these students wherever they reside. The Dover School Department currently has 4,200 students enrolled. English is predominantly spoken among the target student population and within the community, 7.4% of students live in a home where a language other than English is spoken. The demographic profile includes 83% of the student body report being white, 12% report as Asian and 7% black or African American. Also, 18% of high school students identify as LGBTQ+. We expect to impact 1,400 people annually. Over the life of the grant we expect to impact over 5,000-6,000 people. The first goal of the project is to increase the organizational capacity of the Dover Coalition for Youth to strengthen prevention programming in an effort to reduce underage and high risk drinking among youth 12-20 years old. Strategies to accomplish this goal will include growing our youth empowerment team, providing community training, and expanding our coalition. By 9/29/26, we plan to increase the number youth participants in the Coalition's youth empowerment program by 30% and the overall membership of the Coalition by 20% according to membership records and host 3 trainings per year as measured by activity logs. The second goal is to raise the perception of harm of underage and high-risk drinking by highlighting the science of alcohol's impact on brain development and addressing emerging products that pose a risk of increasing underage drinking. Strategies include educating our youth on the brain science and harm associated with early onset of drinking as well as focusing on new products that target youth and pose a risk for increased underage. By 9/29/26, we plan to increase the percentage of students reporting a perception of great risk of underage drinking from 30.2% to 45% among high school students, as measured by the YRBS. The third goal is to integrate tailored prevention programming for high-risk populations to reduce underage drinking disparities and promote health equity. Strategies will include educating the community on ACEs, supporting the ACERT and integrating health equity components and inclusive language into our messaging. By 9/29/26, we plan to increase evidence-based programming targeting high-risk populations as measured by activity logs and decrease the rate of alcohol use among the Sexual and Gender Minority population from 2.4 times higher than their peers to 1.5 times as measured by the YRBS. The fourth goal is to enhance liquor licensee oversight and collaboration to reduce youth access to alcohol. Strategies will include compliance checks, providing training to liquor licensees and media designed to discourage parents from hosting underage drinking parties. By 9/29/26 we plan to increase the percent of businesses passing compliance checks from 69% to above 90% as measured by police data and decrease the percent of students reporting that alcohol is very easy to get from 30.8% to 24% as measured by the YRBS.

ADAPT, Inc. and its Drug Free Communities Coalition (Washington Parish Coalition on Human Services) through the STOP (Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act Grant) will expand its program to prevent and reduce alcohol use among youth and young adults ages 12-20. The population of focus will consist of 6th-12th grade students in Washington Parish's two school districts with special focus on the Bogalusa School System which has a minority enrollment of 80% with 77.9% of the students receiving free/reduced lunch. The overarching goals of the grant will be (1) to address norms regarding alcohol use by youth, (2) to reduce opportunities for underage drinking, (3) to create changes in underage drinking enforcement efforts, (4) to address penalties for underage use, and (5) to reduce negative consequences associated with underage drinking. Our projected reach will be a total of 500 unduplicated number of individuals the first year of the project. The coalition will serve a minimum of 2,000 unduplicated number of individuals over the entire project period.