Alcohol free in '23 and beyond - the palm beach county substance abuse coalition (DBA palm beach county behavioral health coalition proposed alcohol free in '23 and beyond will provide resources,…

Alcohol free in '23 and beyond - the palm beach county substance abuse coalition (DBA palm beach county behavioral health coalition proposed alcohol free in '23 and beyond will provide resources, leadership, proven strategies and program evaluation to strengthen local prevention capacity and infrastructure. While addressing disparities among youth people's use, the project will reduce high rates for drinking use and address mental health concerns. The coalition has a long history of success and stewardship of federal, state and local dollars and is committed to building healthy communities through substance abuse prevention., wellness and recovery support. The community IT serves is highly diverse with nearly 52% of its 167K local students eligible for free and reduced lunch. Disparities are evident with higher use, rates and mental health concerns among black/african american and hispanic youth. High rates of use and low perception of harm highlight the need for infrastructure development to increase local capacity to implement, sustain and improve substance abuse prevention and promote mental health while ensuring effectiveness through data collection and high quality programs evaluation. The goals of this projects are to 1. Decrease underage drinking through addressing norms regarding alcohol use by youth 2. Reduce opportunities for underage drinking while promoting health and 3. Create change in underage enforcement efforts. Utilizing the strategic prevention framework, focused on assessment, capacity building, planning implements and evaluation and utilizing a continuous improvement model, the strategies adopted to meet the objectives on based on cadca's institute's framework. They include providing information and support through outreach and media outlets, enhancing skills with training, changing consequences through targeted campaigns, environmental scans, compliance checks, and materials for parents, alcohol outlets and policy change strategies. Using this model, 240,000 community members are expected to be served throughout this project.