The Van Buren County SAFE Coalition was
awarded the Iowa Partnership for Success (IPFS) Grant in February, 2015 to
address underage drinking and youth binge drinking in Van Buren County. The Van Buren County SAFE Coalition’s IPFS
project is funded by the Iowa Department of Public Health, through the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services.
During the 2015 Fiscal Year the
coalition completed the assessment and capacity building phases of the
grant. This included completing a
thorough assessment of the available data (Iowa Youth Survey, Law Enforcement,
Juvenile Courts, etc.) for Van Buren County, reviewing the underage drinking issues
and current consequences for underage drinking in the county. The coalition also completed a survey that
included interviews with Van Buren County community members to determine the
level of understanding the community had for underage drinking and youth binge
drinking issues in the county and how they are being handled. To increase the ability of the coalition to
address the underage drinking and youth binge drinking issues in the county the
coalition examined its current ability and resources to address the issues and
began to invite missing community members and organizations to the table to
build its capacity.
During the 2015-16 Fiscal Year the
coalition continued to build its capacity, which included recruiting community
members to participate in the coalition meetings and work and communicating
with key stakeholders in the county. The
coalition also completed a written plan that outlined the services to be
provided to address underage drinking and youth binge drinking in Van Buren
County based on the data from the assessment.
The plan included choosing prevention strategies to address the issues
and ways to ensure strategies would be implemented accurately and in line with
the expectations of the developers. In
June, 2016 the coalition began implementing the five chosen prevention strategies.
During the 2016-17 Fiscal Year the
coalition is continuing to build capacity and address the five strategies it
was funded to work on as follows:
1) Alcohol Restrictions at Community
Events at Privately Owned Facilities: The coalition has begun working with
privately owned facilities to help them implement alcohol policies focused on the
Best Practices for Alcohol Service at their location. Two facilities have established a “No Alcohol
Allowed” policy.
2) Alcohol Restrictions in Public Places:
The coalition researched what alcohol restriction policies are being followed
in each town and the county. Coalition
members will be visiting with each city council in July to present them with
information on policies they could use in their town that would address the
availability of alcohol to youth in public places, such as: public parks and
community ball fields.
3) Substance Abuse Prevention Programs
for Youth: The coalition worked with the Van Buren Community School District to
implement the Life Skills Training Program in the 7th and 8th grades. A teacher and two coalition members were
trained to deliver the curriculum and materials were purchased. All of the 7th and 8th
grade students completed the curriculum by the end of the 2016-17 school year.
4) Underage Drinking Prevention Media
Campaign: The coalition has worked with local media outlets to implement IDPH’s
“What Do You Throw Away” underage drinking prevention media campaign. It is currently displayed on the billboard in
Keosauqua; posters in the Van Buren County Hospital & Clinics; posters and
screensavers at local libraries; posters, electronic billboard ads, and
computer backgrounds at the Van Buren Community Middle/High School; posters at
the Keosauqua Pool; posters at the Lacey Keosauqua State Park; and posters in
local convenience stores.
5) Social Host Ordinance: A Social Host
Ordinance would address the problem of adults knowingly providing a place for
an underage drinking party. The
coalition currently is working to decide on whether or not a county wide social
host ordinance can be implemented. If it
cannot then the coalition will work with the local towns to implement a Social
Host Ordinance for their towns.
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