Decisions at every turn stop project to prevent & reduce youth alcohol use in ashland - the decisions at every turn (daet) coalition is a volunteer community-based group in ashland, massachusetts,…

Decisions at every turn stop project to prevent & reduce youth alcohol use in ashland - the decisions at every turn (daet) coalition is a volunteer community-based group in ashland, massachusetts, dedicated to promoting healthy decision-making through evidence-based education and prevention strategies to reduce and prevent youth alcohol and other drug use. We create a safe and healthy ashland by promoting the protective factors that help youth thrive and by reducing the risk factors that contribute to unhealthy behaviors. As community prevention leaders, we achieve this by raising public awareness, advancing prevention education, contributing to effective policy, and promoting community level change. Daet serves the town of ashland, a largely residential, primarily white and middle-class town of 18,832 located in the metrowest region, midway between boston and worcester. Ashland has witnessed a tremendous population increase of nearly 20% over the past two decades. This growth is reflected in the town's increasing diversity, especially among our 2,903 students across the school district of which 56% are white, 19% are hispanic, 18% are asian, 3% are african american, and 4% are multi-race/non-hispanic. Currently, 20% of students speak a language other than english at home. Throughout the 16 year history of daet, youth alcohol use has been stubbornly high. While we have seen some reductions in youth alcohol use measures during this time, we are concerned about recent data and reports of alcohol use and behaviors by middle and high school students including the rise in alcohol use between grade 8 and 9; increasing rates of alcohol use and decreasing perceptions of risk from grades 9-12; and high-risk drinking and access behaviors by youth who are non-white, have a disability, on an IEP, identify as lgbtq and/or do not speak english at home. We are further concerned about focus group data and local alcohol polices that convey permissive norms which are shown to contribute to youth alcohol use. The stop project will use evidence-based universal prevention strategies to target all middle and high school youth, and support selective strategies to address high-risk behaviors by underserved populations identified in our data. Daet's action plan will be guided by the seven strategies for community level change to achieve its goals to enhance the capacity of our members and stakeholders to implement evidence-based prevention strategies and to reduce past 30-day alcohol use by ashland youth ages 12-20. Objectives include an evaluation of our diversity, equity & inclusion efforts; building membership capacity; educating and building skills in youth and adults; evaluating alcohol policies; and addressing access, perceptions, and community norms. To meet these objectives, daet will implement strategies that provide information on the risks/prevalence of youth alcohol use, provide support to prevent and reduce alcohol use, enhance skills to recognize and address youth alcohol use, increase access/reduce barriers to prevention resources, and address consequences to decrease youth alcohol use. In year 1 we expect to reach approximately 1500 middle and high school youth, 600 parents/caregivers, and 150 community members. Building on year 1 with strategies to further expand community collaboration and community norms messaging, we anticipate reaching a similar number of students and parents each year, and increasing our reach to 300 community members in year 2; 500 in year 3, and 750 in year 4.