Drug Free Starkville Collaboration 2.0 - Mississippi State University (MSU) proposes to continue directing the work of the PAWS Coalition (PAWS is an acronym for Prevention and Wellness – Starkville) to reduce the use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, opioids, fentanyl, and prescription misuse in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi. The Project Director for the proposed second five years of funding is Bobbie Jo Bensaid, a faculty member in MSU’s Department of Food Science, Nutrition, and Health Promotion. She brings to this role her invaluable experience as Project Coordinator for the PAWS Coalition, so she is well-acquainted with both the members of the PAWS Coalition and the work with which it has been involved. She also worked with the PReventing Opioid Misuse In the SouthEast (PROMISE) Project, where she trained thousands of participants throughout the state in Mental Health First Aid, suicide prevention trainings, and worked to combat the opioid epidemic. The mission of the PAWS Coalition is to prevent and reduce youth substance use in Mississippi by promoting healthy lifestyles, providing education and resources to youth and their families, advocating for policies that reduce access to harmful substances, and fostering a supportive community environment that encourages positive choices and behaviors. Utilizing SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention Framework to guide its program efforts, the PAWS Coalition has identified four objectives for its first year of renewal funding: by September 29, 2025, it will (1) increase youth (Grades 6 – 12) involvement in coalition activities and community substance use prevention initiatives by at least 10 youth members; (2) increase the number of coalition partners by at least 50%; (3) increase youth perceived risk of substance use by at least 10%; and (4) reduce youth past 30-day substance use by at least 10%. Short-term outcomes for the PAWS Coalition’s proposed strategies and activities are designed to complement the DFC outcomes that CDC outlines in its program logic model; namely (1) improved knowledge regarding patterns of youth substance use; (2) improved knowledge of coalition efforts to address youth substance use in the community; (3) increased outreach to relevant sectors of the community to address youth substance use; (4) increased capacity of local agencies and organizations to address youth substance use; and (5) increased intergovernmental cooperation, coordination, and collaboration to change the conditions that impact youth substance use. The PAWS Coalition’s Evaluation and Performance Measurement Plan will be spearheaded by Anna Grace Tribble, PhD, who has more than ten years’ experience collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data for both research and evaluative purposes. The Evaluation and Performance Measurement Plan has been designed to (1) highlight program accomplishments; (2) monitor our implementation initiatives; (3) demonstrate the effectiveness of our strategies and activities; (4) build an evidence base for program strategies; (5) clarify the applicability of the evidence base to different populations, settings, and contexts; and (6) drive continuous program improvement. One of the PAWS Consortium’s greatest strengths is its history of collaborations and, during the next five years, hopes to collaborate with other CDC-funded DFC programs throughout the U.S.
