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Tips and Resources

Many tools, insights, and resources are available to help you identify and meet your prevention goals. You can view SAMHSA’s prevention publications and digital products to help with your planning.

Click on the links below to find data resources, expertise from prevention leaders, and proven strategies that will help you design an impactful Communities Talk activity.

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  • CollegeAIM (the College Alcohol Intervention Matrix) is a resource developed to help schools address harmful and underage student drinking. Developed by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) with leading college alcohol researchers and staff, it also can help schools choose interventions wisely to boost their chances for success and help them improve the health and safety of their students.
  • This four-page brochure from NIAAA focuses on harmful college drinking, including consequences; factors affecting student drinking; and individual, campus, and community strategies addressing student drinking.
  • The National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NSSLE) provides state, school, and district administrators; institutions of higher education; teachers; support staff and schools; communities and families; and students with training, technical assistance activities, and evidence-based resources that promote positive behaviors and health among students. NSSLE is funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Healthy Students, and this website serves as a central location for the Center and includes information about products, tools, and the latest research findings.
  • College Drinking: Changing the Culture has comprehensive research-based information on issues related to alcohol abuse and binge drinking among college students. Developed by NIAAA, the website provides resources for college presidents, parents, and students, as well as high school administrators, parents, and students.
  • The Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research maintains a data archive of more than 250,000 files of research in the social and behavioral sciences. It hosts 21 specialized collections of data in substance abuse, education, criminal justice, and other fields. It is an effective tool to find and analyze underage drinking prevention data, including by subject, geography, data format, time period, and more.

  • Watch “Celebrate the Possibilities of Prevention: Building Resilient Communities!” (1 hour 31 minutes), a learning session co-hosted by Communities Talk and “Talk. They Hear You.” as part of National Prevention Week 2024. The archived webinar spotlights efforts by Keck Graduate Institute, Tigard Turns the Tide, and Beyond the Bell, and the amazing prevention work they’ve accomplished.
  • In this webinar, "Engaging Colleges and Universities in Prevention" (57 minutes, 29 seconds) viewers learn how colleges and universities are engaging in prevention, as well as the launch of the 2025 Communities Talk cycle. Featured speakers include students and faculty from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Texas Southern University, Washington State University, and Florida Atlantic University, as well as Greater Spokane Substance Abuse Council.
  • Watch short videos that spotlight the winners of SAMHSA’s FentAlert Challenge. The challenge sought innovative ideas from U.S. youth ages 14–18 to develop a community strategy to better educate their peers about fentanyl and fake pills—and help prevent drug overdose deaths.
  • In this webinar, “States Telling Their Prevention Story” (1 hour, 16 seconds) viewers learn about how states are advancing prevention (and telling their prevention story)—as well as recent data, trends, and CSAP’s prevention resources. Featured speakers include CSAP’s Director, prevention leaders from Maine and South Carolina, NASADAD, and NPN.

  • Report to Congress on the Prevention and Reduction of Underage Drinking. Each year, SAMHSA’s Report to Congress on the Prevention and Reduction of Underage Drinking reports on the prevalence and nature of underage drinking and the national efforts and best practices to address the problem. It also reports on state policies, enforcement activities, and prevention programs underway to address underage drinking.
  • SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention Network uses a five-step planning process to guide states, jurisdictions, tribes, and communities in the selection, implementation, and evaluation of effective, culturally appropriate, and sustainable prevention activities.
  • The Monitoring the Future Survey is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and measures drug, alcohol, and cigarette use and related attitudes among adolescent students nationwide.
  • The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) is a U.S. Department of Transportation database that contains driver and nonoccupant blood alcohol content estimates as well as overall crash alcohol estimates on U.S. highways.
  • The Drug Abuse Warning Network is SAMHSA’s public health surveillance system that monitors drug-related visits to hospital emergency departments and drug-related deaths. This resource shows the impact of drug use, misuse, and abuse in metropolitan areas and across the Nation.
  • SAMHSA's National Behavioral Health Barometer presents a set of substance use and mental health indicators from population and treatment facility-based data sets.
  • The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) is an annual survey sponsored by SAMHSA that provides national and state-level data on the use of tobacco, alcohol (including underage drinking), and illicit drugs and on mental health in the United States.
Last Updated: 03/31/2025
Source: https://www.samhsa.gov/substance-use/prevention/communities-talk/tips-resources