Leominster community action team (lcat) - the leominster community action team (lcat) has been an active coalition preventing the use and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs among young…

Leominster community action team (lcat) - the leominster community action team (lcat) has been an active coalition preventing the use and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs among young people ages 12-20 in leominster, MA, since 2008. LUK crisis center, INC. (LUK) has staffed the coalition for several years, including the current drug free communities (DFC) grant. The overarching goal of this stop act project is to prevent and reduce alcohol use among youth ages 12-20 in leominster, MA. The coalition will build upon the current DFC 12-month action plan to: (1) address norms regarding alcohol use among youth, (2) reduce opportunities for underage drinking, (3) create changes in underage drinking enforcement efforts, (4) address penalties for underage use, and (5) reduce negative consequences associated with underage drinking (e.g., motor vehicle crashes, sexual assaults). Each year of the project, the coalition plans to reach at least 2,000 people through population-based prevention efforts (e.g., social norms campaign, compliance checks, sticker shocks, purchase surveys) and an additional 1,000 individuals through direct prevention efforts (e.g., evidence-based and evidence-informed prevention curricula, information dissemination, town halls). Over the four-year project period, lcat will impact 12,000 individuals with stop act interventions. Project objectives are, by the end of the project period, to decrease the rate of alcohol use among high school youth, and increase perceptions of risk or harm, peer disapproval, and parental disapproval. In order to reach these objectives, lcat will utilize a variety of strategies, including evidence-based environmental approaches, targeted evidence-based trainings for parents, partnership development and collaboration, ongoing community education and training, and town halls. To support and guide this work, lcat will regularly review and revise a project logic model and 12-month action plan, while using resources and best practices from various training and technical assistance providers such as the prevention technology transfer center (pttc), community anti-drug coalitions of america (cadca), and the strategic prevention technical assistance center (sptac). Lcat will strengthen partnerships with organizations that have close ties to hispanic/latino communities and lgbtq+ communities in order to address disparities and increase participation and collaboration. The staff and lcat leadership team will strengthen relationships with and between government departments to facilitate policy and practice changes and increase cooperation and collaboration. Lcat will host town halls and continue to participate in school- and community-based activities to increase citizen participation and collaboration to ensure sustainability.