Morgan county partnership's sober truth on preventing underage drinking - the problem of underage drinking is a serious threat to the youth, families and communities in morgan county, WV

For this project, the morgan county partnership has identified the risk and protective factors for underage drinking which we will use to support environmental prevention and reduction strategies. Our focus is on policy change/awareness, enforcement and youth-led social norms campaign along with prevention education to accomplish our goals. The morgan county partnership (MCP) is a coalition made up of local citizens united in a shared vision of building a supportive network for our young people, their families and others connected with them. One of our main focuses is on drug and alcohol prevention. MCP serves the entire county that consists of around 17,500 people. With a school age children's poverty rate of 82% (morgan county board of education), the probability of health and social risk is of high concern. As a result of the youths'/young adults' 30 day and annual use of alcohol ranking higher than the national average along with the lower than national average of perception of risk of underage drinking by parents and peers, the following goals are presented for the stop act grant: the first goal is to reduce underage drinking, specifically among youth ages 12-20, by implementing evidence-based programs and practices in local youth serving agencies, the school system, and higher education. This goal will be accomplished through the following objectives: 1. Reduce the youths' and young adults' past 30-day use of alcohol by 5% measured by the pride survey along with 2. Reduce the youths' and young adults' annual use of alcohol by 5% as measured by the pride survey. Strategies will include additional in school evidence-based programs, compliance checks, and training for servers. The second goal of the program is to educate youth and parents on positive social norms to effectively prevent underage drinking and change negative community norms. This goal will be accomplished through the following objectives: increase the youths' and young adults' parental perception of risk by 5% as measured by the pride survey along with the second objective to increase the youths' and young adults' view of peer perception of risk by 5% as measured by the pride survey. Some of the strategies include town hall meetings, community conversations, PSA contests with involvement from the youth coalition and social norms campaigns. From these goals and objectives, we hope to expand our capacity and capabilities of working effective environmental strategies to address underage drinking prevention. At a minimum, 6,000-8,000 people annually will be part of our efforts or be affected by our initiatives. We intend to serve all sectors of our community throughout the life span of this grant.