University/Schools Alliance Executive Meeting
November 12, 2008
at UD Cooperative Extension Office

 

Attending:  Rosemary Brooks, Sanford School Parent
                      Cindy Genau, UD Cooperative Extension
                      Erica Melman, OPEI
                      Harry Baetjer, Tower Hill School

Staff Attending:  Roberta Gealt, Mary Perno

Discussions:  The minutes from the October 8th meeting her handed out and approved.

Grants: 

American Lung Association mini-grant-The first installment of the grant has been received and work has been started on the game activity and the other materials.  Two schools have volunteered to pilot the game activity.

Office of Prevention and Early Intervention Technology and Alternative Activity Grant- USA applied for funds to support Town Hall Meetings on Underage Drinking in school communities this spring, since they were very successful last year, and there apparently will not be federal funds to support them this year.

Strategic Prevention Framework-State Incentive Grant- The State of Delaware has just applied for this grant, with an application cooperatively written by the UD Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies, the Office of Prevention and Early Intervention and the Delaware Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.  If awarded to Delaware, It will provide for an Advisory Council under the Governor to create and implement a strategic prevention plan for the state.  The plan would be implemented in each of the four sub-state planning areas (the three counties, with Wilmington carved out of New Castle County to create the fourth planning area) by an established community coalition, which would then use local data to create a local strategic plan parallel to the state plan, using local resources and targeting local problem areas.  The four coalitions have been identified as:

West End House in Wilmington
DCCC in Kent County
1st State Community Action Agency in Sussex County
University/Schools Alliance in New Castle County (minus the City of Wilmington)

The target behaviors are underage drinking, marijuana use among youth and young adults, and prescription drugs across the lifespan.   This grant would strengthen USA’s links with the University of Delaware and other colleges in addressing young adults.  The grant would enable USA to hire a community organizer to oversee the project, and would attract more partners.  Funding for the project would cover administrative costs and also provide a large sum to cover programs, practices and policies identified in the local strategic plan for a period of five years.  The four coalitions could also act together in some instances (i.e. media or enforcement projects) to strengthen their efforts.  In addition, the grant would potentially coordinate some activities with other grants in Delaware, such as the Drug Free Communities Grants and the newly awarded grant to prevent youth suicide. Twenty (20) of these grants will be given out in March 2009; 16 states have not had this grant in the past, and the grants are now open to tribal organizations also.  If awarded, Delaware would receive $2.3 million per year for five years. 

Policy Summit Meeting:  This meeting, proposed at the meeting between Roberta Gealt and Senator Biden’s staff person last month, will take place on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at Buena Vista Conference Center from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM, and will probably be co-sponsored by the Delaware Drug and Alcohol Tracking Alliance (DDATA), which collects state data on substance use.  We would invite elected officials, heads of state and community agencies, prevention coalitions, and representatives from Federal prevention-related agencies. Jack Claypoole from the Office of National Drug Control Policy has already agreed to attend, and suggested we also contact Fran Harding from the U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. The purpose of the meeting is to provide a very thorough picture of current problems and resources, and to build consensus for recommendations as we move forward in a new administration

Town Hall Meetings:  Sanford School will be hosting a meeting on Wednesday April 1, 2009.  Their guest speaker will be author of Reality Gap, Stephen Wallace, who is the Chairman and CEO of SADD.  The cost for him to speak is $2000.  The Parent Awareness Groups from Sanford, Tatnall, Friends and Tower Hill (Independent Schools) will collaborate to plan this meeting.    Sanford is also trying to book Mrs. Biden as one of their speakers; she’s been on the Parent Awareness agenda since before the election.  Tower Hill has expressed interest in holding a meeting at their school, as well.  Other schools who have expressed interest as hosts are Newark High School and one of the Diocese high schools.  Salesianum has offered to provide support for the meetings this year. 

Schools & Events: 

Roberta will be doing a presentation at Seaford High School on Thursday, November 20 during all of their lunches.

Presentations of the PowerPoint presentation “In Their Eyes” are scheduled for the Safety Program at the DuPont Experimental Station and also for the Youth Philanthropy Board of the Delaware Community Foundation.

Physicians & Pharmacists Initiative:  No progress right now, but we plan to roll it out in the spring.

 

The next USA meeting will be on Wednesday, December 10th at 3:30 PM at Arcadia University.