Bogota Advisory Committee on Substance Abuse (BACSA) will establish and strengthen community collaborations in support of local efforts to prevent substance use in youth 11-18. - Bogota Advisory Committee on Substance Abuse (BACSA) Project Abstract The Bogota Advisory Committee on Substance Abuse (BACSA), is made up of a group of concerned community members working together to reduce substance use among youth living in Bogota, a community of approximately 8,830 people within a total of 0.80 square miles. Located in northern New Jersey in Bergen County which is home to almost one million people, the population density of Bogota is nearly three times as dense as the county’s average. A largely diverse community, 31.7% of Bogota’s population is foreign-born with residents from Europe (10%), Asia (23%), Africa (2%), Latin America (62%), and other North American countries (2%). Thirty-Eight percent (38%) of youth under the age of 18 and 37% of adults over the age of 18 speak Spanish at home; a population targeted for specific outreach in the proposal. BACSA will implement evidence-based environmental strategies to target middle and high school youth to reduce access and increase perception of risk of nicotine and marijuana use. Mobilizing coalition members will increase coordination and collaboration among individuals within the community of Bogota, leverage resources in the county as well as the state to target BACSAs response to address youth rates and reduce the negative impacts on families and communities. It is critical that the risk factors that increase rates of using nicotine and marijuana are addressed and protective factors are enhanced to prevent youth from developing substance use disorders in the future. There are pervasive attitudes of parents and youth that the use of nicotine and marijuana among youth is acceptable and perception of risk is low as evidenced by the 2020 election. There were 67.08% of residents of NJ that voted to pass legislation that legalized marijuana for adult use; 66.51% of Bergen County voters voted yes and 70.73% Bogota residents voted yes. This further demonstrates the community’s favorable attitudes towards and norms of the use of marijuana. BACSA’s Goals and Objectives describe the plan and expected outcomes that will be achieved over the next five years with the Drug Free Communities funding. DFC Goal 1: Strengthen community collaboration in Bogota to prevent and reduce substance use among youth under the age of 18 years old. Objective 1: By September 29, 2028, there will be a 20% increase in membership and engagement among new and existing community stakeholders and youth serving organizations to reduce youth use of nicotine and marijuana and, over time, use of nicotine and marijuana among adults in the community. Objective 2: Strengthen Community Participation and Increase Awareness of the BACSA Coalition by 10% by September 29, 2024 as measured by coalition sign-in sheets and community surveys. DFC Goal 2: Reduce Youth Substance Use Objective 1: By January 2024, acquire baseline data of the four core measures; past 30-day use, perception of risk, perception of parental disapproval and perception of peer disapproval among Bogota youth in grades 7, 9 and 11. Objective 2: By September 29, 2028, decrease by 5% the nicotine related core measures including past decrease 30-day use and increase perception of risk, perception of parental disapproval and perception of peer disapproval as measured by the PRIDE student survey Objective 3: By September 2028, decrease by 5% the marijuana/cannabis related core measures including decrease past 30-day use, and the perception of risk, perception of parental disapproval and perception of peer disapproval as measured by the PRIDE student survey.
