Getting Started on a Statewide Initiative

Each state approaches planning and implementing a statewide initiative differently. Some are initiated through the leadership of state officials, while others emerged through the efforts of college and university administrators or statewide college task forces working on alcohol and other drug issues. In many states community coalitions to reduce underage drinking or eliminate youth drug use have taken the lead in pushing for statewide campus and community prevention initiatives.

Even though there is no one overall approach, the most successful initiatives share some key elements. Taken together, these elements can serve as a guide for implementing an initiative designed to change the campus and community environment that contributes to high-risk drinking and other drug use by college students. In practical application, individual states may need to approach the timing or sequence of each element differently. In any case, the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention (the Center) can assist leaders with the planning of a statewide initiative at any stage in its development or implementation.

An important first step is to talk to potential stakeholders to find out what college prevention efforts, if any, have been undertaken in your state. Most initiatives have started by convening a meeting of key stakeholders for an overview of the environmental management approach, discussion of the benefits of statewide initiatives, and some initial strategic planning. It is important for potential leaders of a statewide initiative to bring key players to a consensus about the nature and scope of the problem and assess the current status of AOD prevention work in the state.

Key stakeholders are representatives of any organization or group that has an interest in reducing the consequences of college students’ AOD use on campus and in the surrounding community. They may be state-level representatives of government, higher education, the alcohol industry, enforcement organizations, and community organizations. Before a first strategic planning meeting is convened, statewide initiative leaders may need to have a series of individual conversations or smaller informal meetings to build relationships with key players. Those with information, ideas, and resources to contribute may include:

• State associations of institutions of higher education or councils of presidents
• State or regional consortia of higher education AOD coordinators
• Law enforcement officials and police professional associations
• Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking or organizations like Ohio Parents or Arkansans for Drug Free Youth
• League of Cities and Municipalities
• Alcohol distributor, restaurant, and/or tavern owners' associations
• State Alcohol Beverage Control agencies (Visit www.nabca.org or www.ncsla.org) and liquor control enforcement officials (in some states a special unit of the state police, not the ABC, is responsible for enforcement of liquor laws)
• State Department of Alcohol and Drug Services
• State Office of Criminal Justice Services
• State Department of Traffic Safety
• Governor's designee for administration of funding to Enforce Underage Drinking Laws from the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
• Regional Coordinator for the Network Addressing Collegiate Alcohol & Other Drug Issues
• A Matter of Degree (AMOD) grantee
• Potential corporate sponsors

The Center has facilitated many first meetings of potential statewide initiative leaders and created a questionnaire to assess the status of higher education AOD prevention efforts in your state. We found that when we surveyed multiple stakeholders in a given state as to what college prevention activities had occurred during a given year, the stakeholders were often unaware of the history of college prevention efforts in the state. As a result, we strongly suggest that a portion of a first organizing meeting be used to develop a “shared history” of these efforts. See Assessing the Status of a Statewide Initiative, a tool that can be used to facilitate this discussion.

Some of the desired outcomes for this first organizing meeting are:

• To identify key organizations and individuals committed to environmental change
• To develop working relationships among those stakeholders
• To identify other stakeholders that may need to be enlisted
• To agree to next steps for a strategic planning process, including assessment and evaluation, of the statewide initiative.

Because presidential involvement is seen as key to the success of campus-, community-, and state-level efforts, some initiatives have been launched with a demonstration of college and university presidential leadership. Read more about presidents commitment events and other issues related to presidential leadership in statewide college prevention initiatives.

How to Get Involved with an Existing Initiative or Start a New One

If there is a statewide college AOD prevention initiative already underway in your state, the Center can put you in touch with the initiative leaders. Center staff assist states and campus and community coalitions by providing planning assistance, facilitating training sessions, offering on-going consultation services, furnishing keynote speakers, and providing publications. The Center also disseminates information on the successes achieved by various states and helps initiative leaders avoid -- or overcome -- obstacles that may hamper their efforts. Center staff can work with you to develop an initial assessment of statewide college and university prevention efforts and to determine what would be needed to start a statewide initiative to mobilize campus and community coalitions implementing environmental strategies.