Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act Grant - Project Title/Mission: Reducing negative health outcomes from underage drinking by changing cultural norms, limiting access and enforcing penalties to prevent and reduce youth alcohol use in Alachua County. Grant Timeline: 09/30/2024 - 9/29/2028 Funding: Annual amount of $60,000 for a total of $240,000 across four years of funding. Grant Goals and Strategies: The HPW Coalition's target population for the STOP Act Grant includes Alachua County Public School students, University of Florida students and Santa Fe College students totaling over 78,000 youth as potential parcicipants. Additional strategies will reach community members, and parents. The first goal is to alter community norms surrounding underage drinking among high school and college students. Strategies include reaching at least 300 students per year, 1,200 over the project period, with prevention education such as Know the Law, and hosting four or more Friday Night Done Right events in Alachua County to provide alcohol free alternative activities. The coalition will promote Parents Who Host, Lose the Most campaigns to teach parents about the risks of social hosting and how to talk to their children about drinking with SAMHSA's Talk. They Hear You program. The goal is that these efforts will reduce lifetime use of alcohol rates among students Gth-12 grade from 48.3% (FYSAS 2022) to 46.3% by September 29, 2028. The second goal includes reducing current access to alcohol among underage drinkers by increasing the enforcement of the legal drinking age. By September 29, 2025, HPW staff, youth coalition members and law enforcement will conduct 120 compliance checks across stores in Alachua County with a 90% completion rate. By September 29, 2025, HPW staff will host two parent sessions to educate families on the risks of serving alcohol to minors, using the campaign Parents Who Host, Lose the Most, with 85% of families accepting HPW Coalition's parent toolkit. The third goal is aimed towards lowering the rate of negative outcomes from alcohol use among underage drinkers by educating youth about consequences. By September 29, 2025, HPW staff and board members will host two Town Hall events on the consequences of early initiation and excessive alcohol use, including one held in a rural location, with evaluation surveys showing 85% of participants learned more about the negative consequences of drinking alcohol. By September 29, 2025, HPW staff and law enforcement will offer breathalyzer testing on drinking holidays and weekends to approximately 200 underage college students each year (800 over the project period) with 90% of participants agreeing they have a greater understanding of the connection between their impairment level and Blood Alcohol Content (BAC). Grant Required Reports: Disparity Impact Statement will be submitted no later than 60 days after the grant is awarded, and incl udes the number of people to be served in grant implementation along with a description of the population and rationale for selection. This a l so includes a quality improvement plan for how to monitor program outcomes by race, ethnicity and LGBT status along with s t rategies to reduce disparities. This plan should also include policies and procedures for adhering to Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards that respond to cultural beliefs and practices, preferred languages and health literacy. Grant recipients are required to gather quantitative and qualitative performance data and report to the awarding agency each quarter. Additionally, an annual Progress Report will be submitted through SPARS to beginning September 2025 and a Federal Financial Report (SF-425) must be submitted beginning December 2025.
