Old Colony YMCA is the lead applicant for the Drug Free Communities Competing Continuation Application as the fiscal agent for the Easton Wings of Hope Coalition. Easton Wings of Hope’s mission is to prevent youth substance use through education, awareness, and policy change in the town of Easton, MA. Guided by data, the coalition focuses on the prevention of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use in grades 7 through 12 by implementing evidence-based strategies through community collaboration to address local conditions and root causes that lead to substance use. For this project period, the coalition is implementing strategies to increase perception of risk and disapproval for all substances and assessing the enforcement of consequences for substance use to continue the downward trend of use over the past 5 years.
Guided by the Strategic Prevention Framework and the 7 Strategies for Community Change, the Coalition will implement evidence-based strategies to achieve the following goals and objectives:
• Establish and strengthen collaboration among community stakeholders to address youth substance use.
• Reduce substance use among youth, and over time, reduce substance use among adults by addressing the factors in Easton that increase the risk of substance use and promoting factors that minimize the risk of substance use.
Under goal one, the coalitions objective is to increase engaged adult membership by 5% and engaged youth membership by 20% by September 29, 2023, as measured by attendance at coalition meetings, community events, and volunteer opportunities. Under goal 2, Easton Wings of Hope has three objectives. One objective is to reduce 30 day use rates of marijuana in 9th-12th graders by 1% by increasing perception of risk, parental disapproval, and peer disapproval of marijuana use in 7th-12th graders by 3% by September 29th, 2023, as measured on the biennial Youth Health Survey to schedule for December 2023. The second objective under this goal for the project period is to reduce 30-day use rates of alcohol in students in grades 9-12 by 1% by increasing perception of risk for alcohol use in grades 7-12 by 3% by September 29th, 2023, as measured by the Youth Health Survey scheduled for December 2023. The final objective under this goal for the project period is to increase perception of risk for tobacco use (vape products and cigarettes) in 7th through 12th graders by 3% by September 29, 2023, as measured on the Youth Health Survey scheduled for December 2023.
The coalition aims to achieve these goals and objectives by completing activities that provide information to the community and stakeholders, build skills of the community and stakeholders, provide support to increase opportunities for healthy, drug-free activities, enhance access and reduce barriers to systems and services that help prevent substance use (with a focus on access to mental health services and engaging LGBTQ youth through increasing protective factors), change consequences and physical design in the community, and educated and inform the community about policies. Specifically, the Coalition aims to increase perceptions of risk and perception of parental and peer disapproval of using alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana in 7th through 12th graders. The Coalition will engage key community stakeholders and particularly youth to develop a culture of health in the community guided by positive community norms. Developing a culture of health in Easton where youth and adults alike understand the risks of substance use will increase the ease and opportunity for youth to participate in healthy and productive activities and programs that enable them to learn skills to prevent youth substance use and decrease the ease, ability, and opportunity for youth to access substances.
