University/Schools Alliance Executive Meeting
April 13, 2011 at 3:30 PM at CDAS Office

Attending:

Kristen Blanchard, SODAT Delaware
Rosemary Brooks, Sanford School
Nancy Chase, UD Wellspring
Liz Dubravcic, DE Public Health
Nicole Freedman, YMCA Resource Center
Howard Isenberg, Open Door, Inc.
LTC Angela Showell, DNG
Lorie Tudor, DPNA
Capt. Jaime Wolhar, DNG

Staff Attending: Roberta Gealt, USA Director
Mary Perno, USA Project Coordinator

Discussions:

House Bill 70

House Bill 70 was introduced in Legislative Hall under the judiciary committee. Roberta Gealt, Howard Isenberg and Lorie Tudor were present. Roberta got to speak for 1 minute; the others did not get the opportunity. The bill was recessed for 3 weeks, which makes it about May 4th. This gives us 3 weeks to educate the legislators. Roberta will give names to us. Those on today's committee are Melanie George, JJ Johnson, Dennis Williams and John Kowalko. It was stated that they might pass this bill as a strictly criminal issue.

It was suggested that we have some information about this at the Town Hall Meetings so people could send a letter to their legislators. Unfortunately, there is only one town Hall scheduled before May 4th. Some details to discuss would be that most states have social host legislation, only 5 states do not have dram shop laws and Delaware is ranked #9 in kids who drink before the age of 13.

We could call Sue Spilecki from Wilmington Charter School. In 1996, her son went to a "key" party. In the middle of the night, he got up, took his car keys, hit a tree and killed himself. Sue teaches health at Charter. At the end of the semester, she takes the kids across the street to the cemetery and lets them walk around until they notice her son's grave. She then proceeds to tell them the story of what happened.

Nicole suggested that we ask Brad Owens to speak. His sister was drinking and was killed. Roberta asked if he lives in Delaware, but Nicole thinks he lives in Maryland so Roberta only wants Delaware tragedies.

Roberta said that she could make a template letter to the editor but USA cannot lobby.

Only 7% of the kids who drink actually buy the alcohol themselves.

There have been two Town Hall Meetings so far; Wilmington Charter School who had both kids and adults totaling about 50 people and Padua Academy who had Milton Creagh as their speaker had about 100 parents. They also had a student program with Milton during the day that was attended by all students.

Other Town Hall Meetings that are scheduled are:

· April 18th-Dover

· May 12th-LACC

· May 18th-PAL Hockessin

· May 24th

· w/o May 23rd-Smyrna

Roberta will be sending out e-mail blasts to contact legislators. She will send the template to people to send to their legislators as well. The YMCA Youth in Government passed this very same House Bill #70 on April 1st. If the kids think that it is important to pass, why are the legislators against it? We can also write a letter to the editor and an Op-ed letter. Mary will keep the USA Facebook page and USA web site up to date as well about this issue.

SPF-SIG Grant

USA cannot apply for this. The kid's portion of the block grant came out this week. Should USA apply for it? On the other hand, we can pass on it and USA goes away. Roberta will send out the RFP. We could form the Delaware Prevention Coalition that is statewide in place of USA. Roberta will not write the grant due to conflict of interest because of her involvement in other agencies. We would need to apply independently, but we need someone to actually write the grant. Roberta can still work on the DDATA things but cannot be in the director's role. Mary is 20% of the DDATA group and 80% of the USA Coalition. Without this grant, we would lose Mary's position.

The agencies that are currently included in the grant that Suchi Hirasha is writing will be for Open Door, Inc. West End House (also as the lead agency), LACC, the Boys and Girls Club of Dover (lead agency) and Penny Dryden. The model is to keep the prevention infrastructure across the state. They will actively provide technical assistance. One of their new partners is the Jewish Family Services who will be there to train people on social media.

Lorie Tudor told a story about a group from Ohio who rewards kids when they catch them doing a random act of kindness for someone else. They post their name on the board and reward them with gift cards; The news of this spread quickly and resulted in a norm cultural shift.

Nancy asked, "Why wouldn't we join this coalition of coalitions?" Roberta asked, "Should the two groups run contiguous?" If so, then for 3 months we would attend two meetings. How would we staff the coalition without funding? There would be $800,000 in the state for the prevention of underage drinking and marijuana among the 8 areas or 6 regions. Lorie stated that she could not write the grant due to other affiliations. The bidder's conference will be on April 20th at 10 AM at 1825 Faulkland Road in Wilmington. This new grant will start on July 1st.

Nancy said, "She is hearing that USA dissolves and the members become part of another coalition or USA stays together, but Mary becomes a volunteer without funding." Nancy stated that she cannot imagine applying for a grant without Roberta and Mary. Roberta stated that she is paid from all those other agencies, so it wouldn't really affect her pay rate. Nancy asked, "Could we pull Mary out of the DDATA group (20%) and then hire her directly when USA ends on September 30th?"

Liz said, "Roberta provides us leadership". Roberta responded that she did her time.

We need to ask whoever is writing the Delaware Prevention Coalition Block Grant can USA be included as part of that? Will they be able to give us money for Mary? If USA is part of that coalition and they need a staff person, can Mary apply for that job? On the other hand, can we sustain ourselves on our own?

At the next meeting we need to discuss how are we doing to keep going?

The next USA meeting is May 11, 2011 at 3:30 at CDAS

MP 4/14/2011