Eagle River Valley Youth Alcohol Use Prevention Efforts - The Eagle River Youth Coalition (ERYC) collaborates with all youth-serving entities in the Eagle River Valley to assess, identify and address the most pressing needs of youth in our community, identified as youth substance use and mental health. Youth needs are addressed through coalition efforts related to community-based processes, information dissemination, prevention education, and environmental efforts to prevent you access and use of alcohol. The project name is the Eagle River Valley Youth Alcohol Use Prevention Efforts and will focus on implementing the Strategic Prevention Framework including assessment, capacity building, strategic planning, implementation, evaluation, and collaboration to serve youth and families to address underage alcohol use. The focus population for this proposal includes youth 12-20, parents/caregivers, community members, and youth-serving entities in the boundaries of the Eagle County School District in Eagle County, Colorado. All efforts are intended to reach the broad community and focus on addressing youth access and use of alcohol and other substances. The goals and measurable objectives of this project include increasing community capacity and infrastructure to prevent youth substance use, decrease contributing factors, and decrease youth substance use by implementing evidence-based programs, policies and practices that address behaviors that may lead to initiation of use, and decrease youth access to alcohol by conducting compliance checks and party patrol enforcement that reduces commercial and social access to alcohol. The following strategies will be conducted as part of a comprehensive prevention plan. The coalition will coordinate information dissemination and capacity building trainings to increase community knowledge of and ability to respond to priority youth needs, attendees will feel more knowledgeable about the topic and confident in facilitating prevention work. ERYC will lead strategic planning processes that result in the development of a youth prevention strategic plan with partner approval of key strategies, implementation of evidence-based approaches and practices, and increased awareness of community resources and supports. ERYC will increase networking and coalition engagement by recruiting new coalition members annually to support youth substance use prevention efforts. Efforts will also improve referral systems, linking youth to substance use interventions and cessation programs, with participants reporting increased risk of harm from substance use. Family and community prevention education will serve youth and families with evidence-based programs, with participants reporting improved family communication. The efforts will increase youth engagement and leadership opportunities with youth coordinating positive projects and activities. Positive social norms campaigns will result in surveyed youth recalling the prevention messages. Youth substance-free alternative activities will be held with attendees recognizing that the activities helped them stay away from situations that encourage use of substances. Law enforcement party patrol enforcement shifts will result in youth being referred to early intervention programs. Law enforcement compliance checks will increase retailer compliance practices and result in more locations passing. Policy education will occur with local municipalities being educated in at least one environmental change strategy that reduces youth access and use of substances. Annually, the coalition anticipates serving 1,500 youth and 500 community members through strategies, serving 8,000 individuals over the course of the project. Through a comprehensive and inclusive approach, the coalition aims to prevent youth alcohol access and use.
