Meriden Healthy Youth Coalition Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking - Rushford Center, Inc., fiscal agent for the Meriden Healthy Youth Coalition (MHYC), requests STOP Act Grant funding to build MHYC's capacity to prevent and reduce underage alcohol use among youth ages 12 to 20 in Meriden, Connecticut. Meriden youth report declining but still concerning rates of alcohol use, and national data show that stagnant risk perception combined with growing exposure to digital alcohol marketing threatens to erode local prevention gains. This project will strengthen coalition infrastructure, formalize youth leadership, and update prevention messaging to address these emerging risks over a 48-month project period. MHYC will build capacity to serve the City of Meriden, a 24-square-mile urban community bisected by Interstates 91 and 691. The population of focus is youth ages 12 to 20, with particular attention to students in grades 6 through 12 attending Meriden Public Schools. Meriden's population is approximately 60,830 residents. The community carries dual federal designations as a Health Professional Shortage Area for mental health and a Medically Underserved Area. Local data show that while lifetime and past-month alcohol use among Meriden youth remain low, MHYC's most recent alcohol-specific funding cycle ended several years ago, and current prevention efforts have concentrated on other substances, leaving a capacity gap in dedicated alcohol-focused coordination, staff training, and youth-led messaging suited to today's social media environment. Under this grant, MHYC will identify and implement evidence-based prevention strategies drawn from the Strategic Prevention Framework and CADCA's Seven Strategies for Community Level Change. Within 120 days, the coalition will formalize its youth advisory group, develop a Logic Model and 12-month Action Plan, and convene community forums to gather public input. Planned strategies include adapting SAMHSA's Talk. They Hear You.® campaign for Meriden audiences, distributing prevention messaging through school, business, and media sector partners, conducting alcohol retailer compliance checks and TIPS training, promoting Connecticut's Social Host Law, and developing youth-led digital campaigns to counter algorithm-driven alcohol marketing. MHYC's goals are to strengthen coalition capacity, reduce and prevent youth alcohol use, and increase community and public consequences for underage drinking. By September 2029, MHYC aims to increase coalition membership by 30 percent (from 12 to 16 members), increase the percentage of Meriden youth in grades 6 through 12 who believe underage drinking is wrong, and increase the percentage of youth who perceive alcohol as difficult to access, all as measured by the Youth Voices Count Survey. These objectives directly respond to the local need for renewed, alcohol-specific prevention capacity documented in the Statement of Need.
