University/Schools Alliance

Executive Minutes

May 7, 2008

3:30 PM at UD Coop. Ext. Office

 

Attending:       Cindy Genau                Cooperative Extension

 Kathy Ward                YMCA-Resource Center

 Jo-Ann West               Salesianum School Nurse

 Rosemary Brooks        Home & School Association, Head

 Kristen Blanchard        Sodat, Delaware

 Liz Dubravcic              Parent, Tatnall School

 Yvonne Nass               Parent Education Consulting

 George Meldrum         Nemours Health Prevention Services

 Dana Sawyer               Office of Prevention and Early Intervention, Dir.

 

Staff Attending:  Roberta Gealt, Mary Perno

 

Discussions:  Roberta received a Cesar Fax today stating that parents are even less  likely to suspect younger children of cigarette and alcohol use (when they actually are using) than they are teenage children, but they are equally clueless about marijuana use by younger and older children.  The fax stated that there is a need for parent-oriented substance abuse prevention programs.  The fax was handed out to attendees.

 

Town Hall Meeting Report:  Rosemary Brooks said that Sanford had about 50 people attend their meeting. Roberta asked that each school that held a Town Hall Meeting send her a summary of who spoke, what went on during the meeting and any changes or outcomes because of the meeting.  Yvonne said that she would be interested in knowing what the schools or parents have actually changed since the THM.  Rosemary stated that, as head of the Sanford Home & School Association, they have now re-written their policy regarding events paid for through Home & School Association funds to preclude serving of alcohol.  Liz suggested that we award distributors if they something good for the cause of underage drinking, but since there are only two alcohol distributors in Delaware, this might not be practical.

 

Logic Model:  Roberta stated that the logic model has two purposes; one is to reduce substance use and the other is to create and maintain support systems for the coalition.

 

USA’s Strategic Planning Meeting:  Our strategic planning meeting was held on April 3rd at Buena Vista Conference Center.  One of the topics of discussion was that Delaware prevention services have a significant gap because there is no longer any regular, low cost training available to youth prevention workers due to the fact that OPEI no longer has an annual forum.  USA decided that it would be a good move to partner with OPEI to hold a forum next April.  When Roberta spoke to Dana Sawyer about it, Dana told her that they already plan to do a forum for 2009, and might be willing to discuss possible collaborations.  Some of the areas for training discussed at the planning meeting included training tracks for healthcare professionals, for School Resource Officers, and for other groups not previously addressed by the OPEI Forum.

 

Sophia Slides:  Roberta did a presentation for the Kids Caucus of the Delaware State Legislature today in Dover.  The slides currently include information on substance abuse, violence, sexual behaviors, and also physical activity and obesity, and nutrition.  The slides also included the cost of underage drinking to the state, which was of great interest to the legislators, who discussed talking to Delaware’s two distributors to see what can be done.  Another area of discussion was parents who are hosting parties and serving alcohol to anyone under the age of 21.  One of the legislators suggested a possible tax on alcohol to fund prevention programs.

 

NCCCP and NCCPD:  New Castle County Community Partnership and Roberta met since our last USA meeting.  Nellie Frazier is the new Executive Director.  NCCCP is restructuring to be more effective, and is starting with fundraising, something that USA has never been very effective at.  Nellie is planning a golf outing and had a Job Fair already. They both agreed that we need to collaborate with each other more often.  NCCCP serves  parts of Wilmington and other communities that USA does not reach very well.  During this meeting, another meeting was set up for Roberta with the New Castle County Police Department.  At this latter meeting, discussions revolved around getting support for a grant USA was submitting on underage drinking, possibly collaborating to update NCCPD programs including SLAM and Heroin Alert, and  possible collaboration on the Parents Who Host, Lose the Most . 

 

Family Day:  USA is going back to supporting Family Day (Sept 22nd).  George suggested that we contact Yvette Santiago and possibly get Nemours to be our sponsor if we promote healthy eating. He also suggested that we contact Ann Farley, Director of Community Affairs for New Castle County, about providing some information to parents at a county program held at Carousel Park in the summer, called “Sleep Under the Stars”.

 

Grants Submitted:  Building Bridges (Newark HS) wrote an application for a Drug Free Communities grant this year, but was unable to electronically submit it.  They were, therefore, included in a Mentoring grant for $75,000 submitted by USA to work with  Building Bridges and also with a new coalition in Middletown, currently being helped by Howard Isenberg. Roberta also submitted a STOP act grant for underage drinking.  That is $50,000 per year for 4 years.  We won’t know until sometime between June and August if any of these grants will be awarded.

Smart Moves, Smart Choices:  Jo-Ann West told us that the National Association of School Nurses is promoting this program on prescription drug abuse, targeting school-aged students.  There are four 5-6 minutes spots to show in a classroom.  There is also one for parents.  Information about the program, which had its east coast premier by Postlethwait Middle School in the Caesar Rodney School District last week, is available at the link to the program is http://www.macneil-lehrer.com/thenews/themedic/

 Site Visit:  We have not chosen a date for the next USA meeting because we are waiting for confirmation for the USA site visit in June from our Drug Free Communities Project Officer.