On behalf of the community sectors living in the rural counties of Southern Rio Arriba and Northern Santa Fe, Hands Across Cultures Corp., a 501(c)(3) private, non-profit organization, will facilitate a coalition system, the Revive Prevention Coalition (Revive) to address Underage Drinking and the Misuse of Prescription Drugs including Opioids.
Revive’s purpose aims to increase capacity to implement the Strategic Prevention Framework in order to prevent the onset and reduce the progression of underage drinking, prescription drug misuse including opioids and related consequences. The implementation of the SPF model will be achieved using a cohesive and comprehensive public health approach that includes universal and environmental evidence-based prevention programming to heighten awareness of community need, address risk factors and change these behaviors across our community through capacity building, data-driven strategic planning and high quality implementation of evidence-based programs, practices and policies. Populations to be served: Youth ages 12-17. Demographics and Clinical Characteristics include 51% Female and 49% Male. Race and Ethnicity (based on 2019 Pojoaque Valley School District Portfolio) Hispanic/Latino 77%, American Indian/Alaskan Native 17%, White/Caucasian 5%, Black/African American 1%, Asian 0%. In our local school district, 57% of these students were considered “Economically Disadvantaged” and 17% were English language learners. According to NM Kids Count 2018, in our catchment area 74% qualified for free or reduced priced meals. Cultural roots stem mostly from Hispano and Native traditions. Religion is primarily Catholic but strong ties exist to Pueblo Native ways of spirituality. There is a small Sikh community. 82.1% of students identify as straight, 13.6% as gay, lesbian or bisexual, 4.3% are not sure of sexual orientation. Gender identity is as follows, 93.1% of students identify as Cisgender, 3.9% report as transgender, genderqueer, or genderfluid, 3% are not sure about their gender identity.
Historical perspective is lengthy and complex including generations of cultural trauma and land loss, intergenerational substance use. A significant shift in events that had an impact on youth substance use is the magnitude of current opioid crisis. Recently, Physicians were over prescribing prescription pills and opioids unmonitored while getting kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies. Local alcohol and drug problems are partly perpetuated by “cultural dislocation and cultural oppression. People are in pain.” The cultural norms have filtered down to our youth in terms of age of current use, ease of access, perception of risk and low enforcement.
Revive's Measurable Objectives highlight the desired outcomes for the project: Objective 1: Increase the perception of risk of the legal consequences among youth regarding the arrest of adults for providing alcohol to minors by 5% of baseline as measured by the DFC Youth Core Measures Survey in Northern Santa Fe County by September 29, 2021.Objective 2: Reduce the number of students reporting “Very Easy” and “Somewhat Easy” access to alcohol as measured by the DFC Youth Core Measures Survey by 4% from baseline data by September 29, 2021.Objective 3: Increase the enforcement of alcohol and prescription pill misuse policies by increasing the reported incidence of enforcement by 5% by September 29, 2021.Objective 4: Decrease youth social access to alcohol by decreasing the number of adults who provide alcohol to minors by 5% by increasing adherence implementation of the Social Host Ordinance in Catchment Area by September 29, 2021. Objective 5: Increase perceived risk DWI by 3%, as well as, the perceived risk of youth “riding with someone who has been drinking alcohol” by 3 % as measured by the DFC Youth Core Measure Survey by September 29, 2021. Objective 6: Reduce the number of students who report using prescription drugs not prescribed to them by 3%.