University/Schools Alliance
Executive Board Meeting
October 8, 2008
Arcadia University 3:30 PM

Members Attending:

Linda Brasel    Arcadia University

Liz Dubravcic  Parent, Tatnall School

Erica Melman Office of Prevention and Early Intervention

JoAnn West    Salesianum School

Yvonne Nass  Parent Education Consultant

 

Staff Attending:

            Roberta Gealt

Discussions:

·         GRANTS:  The DFC grant year has ended as of September 30th and the new year has begun.

·         USA was not awarded a grant applied for from the Drug Free Communities Mentoring Program to support work with the Building Bridges Coalition in Newark and the new Middletown Community Coalition.  USA will continue its relationship with these coalitions and try again next year after some consultation with the funding agency to see how the application could be improved.

·         USA also applied for a Sober Truth on Prevention (STOP) of Underage Drinking grant to support partnering with New Castle County Police and the New Castle County Community Partnership in implementing the Parents Who Host Lose the Most program, focused on parallel education and enforcement of Delaware’s laws on parents who provide alcohol to minors at parties—this application was not funded either.  It is not known whether this grant opportunity will occur again next year.

·         USA applied for an American Lung Association of Delaware mini-grant for a maximum of $10,000 which was fully funded and will start in October 2008 and be completed by June 2009.  It will provide for an alcohol-focused game format activity for youth, parents or mixed groups, as well as supportive literature and posters.

·         USA will also apply for an Alternative Activities and Technology Grant from the Office of Prevention and Early Intervention.  The application will be to use the mini-grant (amounts up to $5000) to support Town Hall Meetings on Underage Drinking in the schools in March.

·         The State Incentive Grant (SIG), which the State of Delaware is applying for through the Governor’s office, will potentially involve specified community coalitions to coordinate the prevention efforts in the sub-state planning areas.  The proposal will address underage drinking and marijuana use, as well as lifespan misuse of prescription drugs, so it is very consistent with USA’s goals and activities.  A meeting will be held later in October to provide further information.

Activities:

·         Presentations have been scheduled of the Sophia Slides for the After School Alliance, the Youth Board of the Delaware Community Foundation, and the safety program of the DuPont Experimental Station.

The slides will be updated with 2008 data.

·         Newark High School will host a Parent Chat on Transitioning to College on March 4, 2009.

·         Senator Biden’s office contacted USA, and his office is making connections for us in Senator Carper’s office and with whomever Senator Biden’s replacement will be to help ensure continued support.  In the context of this discussion, the Senator’s staff person, Paul Rosen, suggested a round table discussion of substance use and prevention efforts in Delaware, bringing in some national figures.  While he originally proposed that this meeting could take place at the end of October, it has now been decided that USA and the Delaware Drug and Alcohol Tracking Alliance will co-sponsor a Policy Summit in March to bring together legislators and other key decision-makers from Delaware, provide information on our current situation, and develop recommendations for directions to be presented to the new administration.  Jack Claypoole, from the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), has agreed to attend to provide a perspective on where the country is headed with regards to prevention, and he has also recommended USA invite the new Director of the U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Fran Harding.

·         In addition, Jack Claypoole, who is the ONDCP Administrator for the Drug Free Communities Support Program, suggested that a team from ONDCP might come to Delaware to provide a workshop on applying for the Drug Free Communities grants in May or June to help Delaware increase the number of such grants in the state.  While this will not be in time for the next round of DFC grants, it will still provide, hopefully, more specific and strategic help than the CADCA workshops we have sponsored in the past, which were very worthwhile, but focused on coalition building more than writing an application for this specific grant.

USA Notes:

·         September issues were presented.  An October issue is also completed with a focus on smoking.

·         A discussion on potential audiences to receive the USA Notes included the following:

o   Middle and high school principals

o   The USA contact list

o   Pediatricians and doctors of adolescent medicine

o   Wellness Centers

o   Safe and Drug Free Schools Coordinators (School District level)

o   PTA’s—either through the state PTA or through schools

o   School Nurses

o   Legislators

Policy Notes:

·         Recent research was noted which found that two policies were found to be effective in reducing youth alcohol consumption.  The first was having the legal drinking age set at 21.  The second was to punish offenders using fake ID’s by taking away their drivers’ licenses.  While Delaware has the first law in place, it does not have the second.

Meeting Places:

            We will meet at the UD Cooperative Extension (Cindy Genau’s office) at 461 Wyoming Rd. Newark DE for the months of September, November, January, March, May and July.

            We will meet at Arcadia University (Linda Brasel’s office) at 111 Continental Dr., Suite 201, Newark DE for the months of October, December, February, April and June.

 

The next USA meeting will be on November 12TH at Cooperative Extension at University of Delaware at 3:30 PM.

See attached directions.