Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati, Inc.

PreventionFIRST! is the area's leading regional drug prevention organization, serving Southwest Ohio, Southeast Indiana and Northern Kentucky with a MSA population of two million people. This combined metro region encompasses urban, suburban and rural communities. PreventionFIRST! is a 501(c)(3) non-profit aimed at promoting wellness through the prevention of substance use/misuse across the lifespan. We are laser-focused on the prevention of substance abuse. Our overarching goal is that more communities are engaged in prevention, and that more people make healthy choices. We do not work in a silo – we bring all parts of the community together to create community change. Our work is comprised of a multi-faceted set of programs, policies, and best-practices designed to engage all parts of society. The coalition model has been proven to create more long-term, sustainable change than any single strategy or program could do alone. We believe that if we create communities that can solve drug problems and we change the conditions that make drug use more likely then we will reduce drug use. Our key objectives are: 1) to ensure data-driven decision-making for prevention action. 2) to strengthen and support local, neighborhood drug prevention efforts. 3) to establish and strengthen collaboration across community sectors to implement evidence-based prevention.

The Center for Prevention Science
The Leadershp Team (researchers and staff) is conducting deep dive analysis of the 2016 findings and preparing to field the 2018 Student Drug Use Survey. The biennial community assessments have been updated. The Coalition Evaluation Center (CEC) has grown to 12 member coalitions who participate in the web-based center.

The Center for Community Engagement
The Leadership Team (experts in coalition development and staff) continue to support local member coalitions across the region. Membership has grown to 29 this year. For more established coalitions, support is provided in identified areas based on the development level of the coalition. The 2016 Coalition Academy had it highest attendance ever.

The Center for Prevention Action
Prevention action teams are maintaining strategies and activities directed at underage drinking, marijuana use, and prescription drug misuse. Gambling and tobacco prevention, as well as Youth Empowerment strategies round out our action teams.

Projects include:
• Community Festival/Event Best Practices training – designed to train festival/event planners on responsible beverage service and best practices as it relates to alcohol at these events.
• Social Host project – designed to improve policy and enforcement of underage consumption laws.
• Screening and Brief Intervention – designed to bring this evidence based best practice to middle and high school students through school nurses.
• Advocacy efforts – promoting scientific research findings related to marijuana and designed to modify local policy to reduce access to “medical marijuana".
• Community Forums – designed to bring neighborhoods together to take action to prevent drug abuse, specifically, prescription drug misuse.
• Lockboxes, Dropboxes, Take-back Events – intended to reduce social access and availability of prescription drugs in the community.
• Comprehensive school prevention plan development and training – including policy, assessment and evaluation, student/parent/faculty education, peer-to-peer leadership, early intervention, and community collaboration.
• Youth Empowerment Strategies – Youth Leadership Institute, Youth Summit, and youth mini-grants to build prevention capacity among 9-12 grade students.
• Parent education – “Parenting for Prevention" presentations including the 4th edition of “Strong Voices, Smart Choices" a guide to help parents talk with their kids about alcohol, drugs, gambling, and mental wellness.
• Gambling Task Force/s – facilitation of county and regional groups to conduct community assessment, implement low risk gambling messaging, and coordinate gambling prevention programs.
• Tobacco collaboration – county partnership to develop a youth presence that works to advocate against tobacco use and routinely engages in tobacco counter-marketing activities.
• Public awareness campaigns – broadcast, print, out-of-home, and social media messaging on current substance abuse prevention efforts.

PF! is considered a prevention resource to the community. PF! has coached/mentored over 30 communities since 1996 and this network is a resource to each other as well. In 2004, the Coalition staff developed the Coalition Development Inventory (CDI) to annually assess, monitor, and evaluate member coalition development progress. From these findings, annual plans of work are developed to provide technical assistance, training and other resources towards our goal that every community is served by a high functioning coalition. The Coalition has developed a “Youth Empowerment Package" to build foundational levels of understanding of evidence-based prevention strategies to schools. PF! has a strong partnership with the University of Cincinnati (UC) on a number of levels. Each fall semester, PF! staff teaches the “Foundations in Prevention" course at UC. PF! is committed to workforce development. Not only do we support the professional development of our own staff, all of whom are credentialed in prevention, we also coordinate the Ohio Coaches and Mentoring Network to build workforce development across the state of Ohio, particularly in rural and Appalachian communities. PF! President/CEO has served on the Ohio Chemical Dependency Professionals board. A key accomplishment during that time was the addition of the Prevention Specialist Assistant, designed to build prevention capacity across Ohio. Two of PF!'s staff are trainers for the Substance Abuse Prevention Skills Training.

• Since our founding 22 years ago, the number of drug prevention coalitions in the region has grown, from 4 to 29.
• Since the Drug Free Communities Act was first signed into law by the US Congress in 1997, over $18 Million from this federal funding stream has flowed into the region to 23 community anti-drug coalitions.
• Millions of dollars worth of pro-bono media support has been contributed from radio and television stations since the Coalition's founding.
• Alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana continue to be the most prevalent drugs of choice among 7-12 grade students from the region.
• Between 2000 and 2016, past 30-day use of alcohol has declined 46%; cigarette use decreased 61%; marijuana declined 22% and prescription drug use decreased 29%. Other drug use remains low at 1-2% depending on the substance.
• In 2016, the survey reveals that the age of onset, when youth report that they start to use substances, continues to hover around 13. The age of initiation for alcohol use rose from 12.7 years in 2006 to 13.4; for tobacco, from 12.4 to 13.1; and for marijuana, from 13.4 to 13.8. Delaying early exposure is an important indicator as the longer an individual delays using a substance, the less likely he or she is to become harmfully involved with it later on.