Project Lazarus Wilkes Youth Coalition: STOP Act - Project Lazarus Wilkes Youth Coalition (PLWYC) will implement a four-year, community-driven prevention initiative to reduce underage drinking among youth ages 12–20 in rural Wilkes County, North Carolina. Through the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF), PLWYC will strengthen prevention infrastructure capacity, expand evidence-based programming, engage youth, families, and youth serving professionals, and build sustainable community partnerships that reduce alcohol-related harms and promote healthy youth development. The project will increase community capacity, shift social norms surrounding alcohol use, and create long-term systems change that supports youth and families throughout Wilkes County. PLWYC will serve Wilkes County, North Carolina, a large rural county of approximately 66,000 residents that faces significant socioeconomic and health disparities. Capacity development is needed due to limited transportation, shortages of youth-serving behavioral health providers, increasing youth mental health concerns, and alcohol-related morbidity and mortality rates that consistently exceed state averages. The project will strengthen the county’s prevention infrastructure by expanding cross-sector partnerships, increasing youth engagement, formalizing prevention systems, and improving coordination among schools, healthcare organizations, law enforcement, and community partners. Capacity-building activities will also benefit parents, caregivers, educators, youth-serving professionals, alcohol merchants, and community members who influence youth health behaviors. Direct prevention education will be provided to youth ages 12–20 through school- and community-based evidence-based programs. Capacity-building interventions will include establishing a Youth Advisory Group, formalizing community partnerships, conducting coalition meetings, implementing parent and alcohol merchant trainings, and strengthening community awareness campaigns. Prevention activities will include delivering SAMHSA-recognized curricula, Too Good for Drugs and Project Toward No Drug Abuse, disseminating the Talk. They Hear You. campaign, hosting alcohol-free youth events, training youth-serving professionals, and utilizing continuous quality improvement to refine interventions over time. The project has three primary goals: (1) strengthen organizational and community capacity to prevent and reduce underage drinking among youth ages 12–20; (2) reduce underage drinking and shift youth, family, and community norms related to alcohol use; and (3) expand the reach, coordination, and sustainability of evidence-based prevention strategies throughout Wilkes County. Measurable objectives include: establishing a Youth Advisory Group of 10–15 youth within 120 days of award; formalizing partnerships with at least three key community organizations by the end of Year 1; convening at least four coalition meetings and facilitating seven community trainings annually; administering local youth surveys to monitor SAMHSA core measures within 120 days and again in Year 3; achieving a 3% reduction in past 30-day alcohol use among surveyed youth by the end of Year 3; training 100 youth-serving professionals by September 2030; and providing evidence-based prevention services to at least 500 youth annually. This project directly supports SAMHSA’s strategic priorities of preventing substance misuse and promoting community-based prevention systems by strengthening local capacity, increasing protective factors, and creating sustainable, data-driven approaches that reduce underage drinking and improve long-term health outcomes for youth and families in rural North Carolina.
