BY DEBBIE PAGE
debbiepage.iredellfreenews@gmail.com
The Drug-Alcohol Coalition of Iredell met on Monday to start planning for its future direction and programming for this fiscal year on Monday at its monthly meeting.
About 40 representatives from county and city agencies, organizations, and healthcare and mental health organizations gathered to unpack and plan to meet the organization’s immediate priorities.
Participants broke into self-selected groups, including data collection, event brainstorming, and communication, to determine three or four deliverable projects or tasks for each group to be completed by January 1.
DATA COLLECTION
The data collection group chose to do one-on-one interviews with a cross-section of the community to gather data about alcohol and substance use to determine the community’s major issues in order to direct the coalition’s events and communication efforts.
Each person received copies of the One-on-One Community Member Interview format, developed with the help of DACI’s evaluator. These interviews are designed to help DACI discover some of the root causes of youth vaping and underage drinking in Iredell County.
The group received instructions on how to conduct the interviews in a way that preserves the integrity of data by not asking leading questions. Everyone agreed to conduct at least one interview before September DACI next meeting, with some agreeing to do more.
At the next meeting, the group will discuss the results of the interviews and learn how to code responses so they can be used as quantitative data. They also discussed forming focus groups in the future as another way to collect data.
EVENT PLANNING
The event planning group suggested holding a concert event to draw in the community to information booths designed to reach attendees with educational information and community resources. Other ideas were short, round-robin informational sessions on topics or agency services that participants could choose according to their areas of interest.
The group had a lively discussion about how “events” can be part of changing the drug/alcohol landscape in Iredell County. Rather than focusing on specifics, the events group talked about the larger picture of what events need to look like.
Some group members were assigned to investigate prevention and education events previously done in the county to determine if they were still being held post-COVID and were successful and well attended. They will bring that information back to the events work group in September.
Successful events in the past included all sectors of community, which might mean repeating the same event in different parts of the county. The events were also demographic specific that attracted parents, were kid friendly, or focused on those in recovery.
The group adamantly wants to avoid any aspect of an event appearing “exclusive.”
Events that bring joy, such as concerts or kid fests, and that offer information and resources as part of the happy event work best. The group also wants to use known entertainers with local connections to draw attendees when possible.
Most importantly, the group said events must resonate with DACI’s overall goals and have to be outcome driven, based on community data, to make a difference.
COMMUNICATIONS
The communications group focused on several areas, including using podcasts, social media, and targeted communication releases, updating the DACI Resource Guide, and expanding the organization’s website.
The group also talked about the need for strategic planning, once data is collected, to focus the group’s outreach and communication efforts to reduce substance misuse, promote youth prevention efforts, and educate the community about treatment and recovery resources.
DACI Director Shane Nixon is reaching out to create a partnership with the Television and Digital Media program at Career Academy and Technical School to create youth-targeted podcasts, videos for Tiktok, and Instagram posts in conjunction with DACI coalition members.
Other ideas were creating targeted content on Youtube channels, one for youth with peer “influencers” to promote healthy, substance-free choices and one for parents for data-driven, relevant information and tips for keeping their children substance-free.
The group also discussed the need to tailor communications about DACI’s focus areas to specific groups, using audience-appropriate language and a communication channel popular with that group (i.e. youth, parents, community, agencies, providers, seniors), schools (teachers and staff at public, charter, and private), prospective volunteers, and coalition members.
The communication group also believes the organization’s website needs updating and expansion, including sections targeting youth, parents, providers, volunteers and donors as well as events, coalition news, and resources.
Another suggestion to reach youth was to partner with the school system to send monthly email blasts to students and/or teachers with up-to-date substance misuse information and resources and to provide social media/website posts about current issues facing students.
WANT TO GET INVOLVED?
The next DACI coalition meeting will be Monday, September 19, at noon at the Iredell County Cooperative Extension Center at 444 Bristol Drive in Statesville. Anyone who would like to get involved can email Kristin Blumenstein at kristin@daciredell.org for more information and to be added to lunch count.
♦ Website: https://daciredell.org
♦ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Drug-Alcohol-Coalition-of-Iredell-557415357723605/