Winnebago County Drug and Alcohol Coalition, established in 2013 plans to use Drug Free Communities funding to continue efforts to strengthen community collaboration and reduce youth substance use. - Breakwater: A Community Together is a group of residents and community partners working together to prevent and reduce youth and adult substance use in Winnebago County. The DFC grant work of Breakwater is focused on youth in the Oshkosh Area School District (OASD) with special attention on the prevention of alcohol and marijuana use.
Breakwater has become a cornerstone of youth prevention in the city of Oshkosh and Winnebago County through its primary goals of: 1) increasing coalition capacity; and, 2) reducing youth substance use through community engagement. This grant proposal focuses on continuing and expanding the activities of the Breakwater coalition.
This DFC application requests $125,000 per year over the next five-year grant cycle to cover the costs of the full-time project coordinator and the part-time youth engagement and communication coordinator. Over the past five years, Breakwater has grown and adapted to meet the needs of the community. Its programming has and continues to include: 1) the Breakwater podcast; 2) the CHEERS! course; 3) the Be Courageous campaign; 4) Communities North with local high school students; 5) contracting with Vive 18, a local well-known youth engagement and prevention organization; 6) student-led leadership groups at Vel Phillips Middle School in Oshkosh; 7) policy advocacy; and, 8) youth engagement.
The strategies and activities proposed in Breakwater’s 5-year Work Plan align with the long-term outcomes set forth in the DFC Program Logic Model. More specifically, within five years, the Breakwater coalition will observe strengthened collaboration and partnership among community stakeholders and a concurrent reduction in youth substance use. Building upon these collaborative efforts, the coalition aims to achieve a set of measurable outcomes that reflect the positive impact of its initiatives on youth substance use in Winnebago County. By September 29, 2025, the coalition seeks to: 1) decrease 30-day alcohol use of 9th-12th grade students in Oshkosh by 3%; 2) decrease 30-day marijuana use of 9th-12th grade students in Oshkosh by 2%; and, 3) recruit, retain, and engage current and new coalition members to maintain involvement with all 12 sectors, which will effectively expand the coalition's and local agencies' capacity to address youth substance use. Progress towards these goals will be evidenced by the YRBS data, Coalition Involvement Agreements, and qualitative feedback by local agency partners on Breakwater’s support of their capacity.
Youth work is constantly changing. Over five years, high school and middle school students turn entirely over and face similar and unique challenges as those who came before them. As youth change, the strategies employed must adapt to meet their needs. The next five years of funding will allow Breakwater to continue to do this by: 1) utilizing a part-time youth engagement and communication coordinator to focus on youth engagement and communication; 2) expanding its current work into additional middle schools in Oshkosh to create a youth-led leadership group in each school as well as a city-wide group to foster connection among youth; and, 3) support the youth-led leadership group, Substance Free Futures, in creating substance-free events.
Breakwater as a coalition has seen both great successes and challenges. The coalition has been able to engage in opportunities to step into policy advocacy and create marketing campaigns and programs. Through the dedication of the 12 sector members and the fiscal/backbone support of the Winnebago County Health Department (WCHD), Breakwater has been and will continue to embed itself into the fabric of youth prevention in the community.
