The Community Counseling Institute (CCI) and Tacoma Drug-Free Communities Coalition (TDFC) in Tacoma, Washington, propose the STOP Act Program to prevent and reduce alcohol use by 10% among youth ages 12-20 in the Tacoma community, using environmental change strategies, SAMHSA's Strategic Prevention Framework, and the Surgeon General's Call to Action to create wide-scale community change. The high percentage of low-income families contributes to a high percentage of youth drinking alcohol to deal with economic, social, and family stress factors: 38% of 12th graders and 28% of 10th graders report alcohol use in the past 30 days. Hence, the mission and purpose of the STOP Act Program is to create environmental change to prevent and reduce alcohol use among 3,800 middle and high school youth in the Tacoma community.
Measurable goals of the STOP Act Program are to: 1) increase collaboration on the issue of alcohol use by youth by 10% among Tacoma DFC partners and federal, state, local, and tribal governments (e.g., Tacoma City Council and Police Department; Washington State Liquor Control Board, Pierce County Community Connections; Puyallup Tribe); 2) decrease the rate of past 30-day alcohol use by 10% among Tacoma youth; 3) increase the rate of perception of risk or harm of alcohol use by 10% among Tacoma youth; 4) increase the rate of perception of parental disapproval of use by 5% among Tacoma youth; and 5) increase the attitude toward peer alcohol use as harmful by 5% among Tacoma youth. The STOP Act Program plan involves a multicultural and multidisciplinary Implementation Team of CCI staff, TDFC Coalition members, and community partners. Using Work Groups to focus on media, parents, youth, and alcohol sales retailers, respectively, this diverse group will plan and implement the program, collect data, and evaluate performance measures for alcohol.