AK Wellness Coalition Positive Community Norms CoHort Project

The Executive Summary for this project (see document below) includes the following summary: Significant progress transpired within member coalitions of the Alaska Wellness Coalition between 2014 and 2015. With the mission of reducing underage drinking among youth, communities cultivated local conditions in which prevention efforts were more likely to launch and be sustained. Community coordinators organized and increased the capacity of key stakeholders; engaged in strategic planning processes to ensure priority issues were the focus; assessed local and state data sets; assessed current prevention efforts to ensure there was no duplication of services; planned local communication efforts; pilot tested state-wide communications; and prepared their coalitions with the skills necessary to hear and steer the conversation inspired by the state-wide underage drinking campaign.

The purpose of this project is to partner with the Alaska Wellness Coalition to guide and support their prevention initiatives.

The Center for Health and Safety Culture / MOST of Us^® at Montana State University partnered with the Alaska Wellness Coalition to guide and support their prevention initiatives using the Positive Community Norms framework. The Positive Community Norms (PCN) framework is a comprehensive prevention approach, which addresses three critical areas – leadership, communication, and the strategic allocation and integration of prevention resources (called prevention portfolio management).   This effort supported a cohort of Alaskan Communities seeking to reduce underage drinking through the application of prevention strategies within the Positive Community Norms framework. This work engaged Prevention Coordinators in activities to help them become more effective in applying the PCN framework at the local level. Using a cohort approach  creates synergy among the communities by connecting them as a group to support, learn from, and encourage one another, promote the exchange of information (including training and materials), and seek to address obstacles as a team rather than individually.  The Center for Health and Safety Culture led key activities, including training and ongoing webinars for Prevention Coordinators, development of educational materials such as fact sheets and speaking points, and guidance on media development and education campaigns.