Be Healthy Beverly Underage Drinking Prevention Program - The Be Healthy Beverly (BHB) coalition serves the community of Beverly, a city of 42,318 residents. The coalition aims to establish and strengthen community collaboration to support local efforts to prevent underage drinking. BHB serves a focus population of middle and high-school-aged youth and young adults aged 11 to 20. BHB’s impact on substance use prevention dates back to 2013, when regional representatives convened to talk about how to address the opioid crisis. Since becoming a DFC grantee in 2018, BHB has utilized a community-centered approach to address youth substance use prevention, mental health support, and fostering prosocial behavior. BHB has expanded into a formal community-based coalition with an established organizational structure and representatives from all 12 DFC community sectors with over 100 members. Compared to the state overall, Beverly experiences disproportionately negative outcomes for some key indicators, such as higher rates of substance use treatment admissions for alcohol. Alcohol was described as a prominent and visible part of social life in Beverly, present at many community events, and with underage use viewed as a rite of passage or inevitable. Community enforcement of underage substance use laws was perceived to vary. BHB’s first goal is to increase community collaboration and strengthen the coalition's capacity. BHB will do so by training Middle and High School Adjustment Counselors and Nurses in the CRAFFT Screening Tool, establishing quarterly meetings, partnering with the Beverly Health Department and Beverly Police Department to host Town Halls, providing on-premise and one off-premise per year TiPS training, recruiting and onboarding additional Beverly Middle School (BMS) Change Makers and the Beverly High School (BHS) Youth Prevention Coalition members, identifying Youth Officers for the BHS Youth Prevention Coalition, attending quarterly PTTC and SPTAC webinars, developing and implementing a mentorship program for BMS and BHS youth, and implementing mental health first aid and trusted adult trainings. BHB’s second goal is to decrease and prevent alcohol use among 12-20-year-olds by addressing community norms and increasing opportunities for prosocial activities. This will be achieved by partnering with Beverly Public Schools (BPS) to create and promote safe storage and social host education campaign, expanding the district’s current impaired driving policies to include breathalyzing all students leaving Junior and Senior Prom, utilizing Dr. Linkenbach’s Science of the Positive Framework to implement a Positive Social Norms Campaign, partnering with the McPherson Youth Center and the Greater Beverly YMCA to provide substance-free activities for youth group members and McPherson youth, partnering with Endicott College’s Wellness Center to support alcohol-free activities for Endicott College students, and the creation of an Alcohol Awareness Month PSA focused on impaired driving and delayed onset of use reaching 80% of BHS health and wellness class students, to address decreasing perception of harm rates for alcohol at BHS. Be Healthy Beverly will achieve these goals and objectives by utilizing strategies that enhance the coalition’s existing Drug-Free Communities Grant capacity. This enhanced capacity will allow BHB to consistently improve the quality of all STOP Act project programs, perform more in-depth data collection and research, and implement and evaluate evidence-based approaches and strategies based on emerging needs in Beverly.
