Alamance citizens for a drug free community, through the work of a community coalition, will reduce youth substance misuse, specifically illicit drugs including opioids & other drugs. - alamance…

Alamance citizens for a drug free community, through the work of a community coalition, will reduce youth substance misuse, specifically illicit drugs including opioids & other drugs. - alamance citizens for a drug free community, through the work of a community coalition, will reduce youth substance misuse, specifically illicit drugs including opioids, methamphetamines, and prescription drug misuse in the racially/ethnically diverse community of east burlington located in alamance county, north carolina. These efforts will be accomplished by working collaboratively with youth, parents, school, and community partners to identify and create a sustainable infrastructure of supportive programs and services that will improve health disparities and promote health equity for those that live, work, play and worship in this community. The coalition has identified root causes and local conditions, such as the disproportionate amount of poverty, crime, economic, health and racial disparities as well as other contributing factors like language barriers and fear of systems that challenge community protective factors. Using the seven strategies for community level change model, the coalition has formed a comprehensive approach that will lead to positive short and intermediate outcomes. These outcomes include increasing social connections, shared interests, and sense of community, increasing trust of agencies and systems as well as increasing school and community access for prosocial opportunities for youth. These will ultimately lead to long-term outcomes of reducing and preventing the use of opioids, methamphetamine and/or prescription drugs among youth as well as changing the culture and context regarding the acceptability of these substances.