The purpose of the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking (STOP) Act grant program is to prevent and reduce alcohol use among youth in communities throughout the United States. The STOP Act grant program will encourage existing local community coalitions to develop, assess, and implement effective strategies to prevent and reduce underage drinking. Strategies may include: changing local attitudes and norms, and re-evaluating existing laws and policies.
(1) Grantee must participate in national evaluation activities of the STOP grant program.
(2) STOP Grantees must use the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF), a five step evidence based process for community planning and decision-making. The five step process includes: needs assessment, capacity building, planning, implementation and evaluation.
(3) STOP grantees must plan and implement a comprehensive approach inclusive of multiple strategies as emphasized in the 2007 Surgeon General's Call to Action to prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking located online at: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/underage drinking/calltoaction.pdf Emphasis should be given to environmental strategies that incorporate prevention efforts aimed at changing or influencing community conditions, standards, institutions, structures, systems and policies. In addition, grantees must select strategies that lead to long term outcomes.
(4) STOP grantees must enhance, not supplant, effective local community initiatives for preventing and reducing alcohol use among youth. For current Drug Free Community grantees, STOP ACT foods can not be used to supplant or replace activities that are presently being supported by Drug Free Community funds, and, separate DFC and STOP ACT accounting systems must be maintained for the purposes of reporting.