The document summarizes the success of the Woodson County Interagency Coalition in meeting its goals to reduce underage drinking. Through implementing programs like Too Good for Drugs, CMCA, and Life of an Athlete, as well as increasing youth and community involvement, the coalition was able to reduce 30-day alcohol use among youth by over 8% and binge drinking by over 5% based on results from the Kansas Communities That Care Survey. Key to its success was building relationships across sectors like education, law enforcement, and youth organizations.

1. Woodson County
Interagency Coalition
SUCCESS STORY 2012
Goals Met & Youth Involvement
Kansas SPF Implementation Grant
to Reduce Underage Drinking

2. Location - Woodson County is located in Southeast Kansas
3 counties over from the right and 3 counties up

3. Statistics of Woodson County
 Population Approximately 3,300
 1 School District (consisting of elementary,
jr. high & high school)
 Average Class Size 30 to 45 students per
grade
 (approximately 475 students pre-k thru 12)

4. Woodson County Interagency Coalition
 The Coalition is made up of 26 members from all
areas of the community - businesses, churches,
school district, law enforcement, youth serving
organizations, etc. They meet once a month and
gather ideas to help make Woodson County a
great place to live.
 Due to the results of the Kansas Communities
That Care Survey, our coalition received a grant
to help prevent underage drinking in our county.

5. Kansas Communities That Care
YEAR 6 Survey
8 10
th 12 TOTAL
th th th
2008 100% 93% 69% 47% 84%
2009 87% 93% 81% 94% 92%
2010 100% 100% 96% 100% 100%
2011 100% 100% 73% 100% 97%
2012 100% 94.6% 100% 89.3% 100%
 The percentages above show how many students participate in the survey
each year.
 Kansas Communities That Care Survey – It is a survey students in grades
6th, 8th, 10th & 12th take each year to determine what our youth are facing at
home, school and in the community. This is how Woodson County
Coalition determined there was an underage drinking problem among our

6. After taking the Kansas Communities That Care Survey, we identified that
Woodson County Youth were drinking alcohol at age 12. Our county had
one of the highest percentages of underage drinking.

7. In an effort to help reduce underage drinking we proceeded to get Youth more
involved to identify why we had such a problem. Yates Center Youth Coalition
grew from 7 members to 21 members in a 3 year period. Our youth have grasp
on to the prevention efforts and our survey results prove that our efforts were
successful.

8. Problems Determined by Survey
 The percentage of youth who reported
they consumed alcohol in the last 30 days.
 The percentage of youth who reported
having 5 or more alcoholic drinks at least
once in the last 2 weeks.

9. Our goal for 30 Day Use
 The Woodson County Coalition set a
goal to reduce the percentage of
youth in 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grade
who report consuming alcohol in the
past 30 days by 8 percentage points
from baseline of 35.4% in 2008.

10. 30 Day Usage – We met our goal!
2
0
We
Exceeded
Our Goal
Baseline Target
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Goal Target
35.4% 35.8% 34.3% 25.7% 24.82% 27.4%
• Through the strategies set by the
coalition we exceeded our goal.

11. Our Goal for Binge use
 The Woodson County Coalition set a
goal to reduce the percentage of
youth in 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grade
who report having 5 or more
alcoholic drinks at least once in the
last two weeks by 5 percentage
points from baseline of 35.4% in
2008.

12. Binge Use – We met our goal!
We Exceeded
Our Goal
Target Goal
Base-line 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Target
26.3% 24.3% 23.3% 18.6% 15.04% 21.3%
 Through the strategies set by the
coalition the Target Goal has been
met.

13. Strategies
(Programs that helped us reach our goals)
 Too Good For Drugs
 CMCA (Communities Mobilizing Change on Alcohol)
 Life Of An Athlete
 YouthFriends (Adult Mentors)

14. Too Good For Drugs
 This program is implemented in the classroom and is
instructed once a week in a 10 week period. We
implemented this program in grades Kg through 6th and
9th . The teachers really enjoy the hands-on easy to teach
curriculum.
 Too Good for Drugs focuses on setting goals, resolving
conflicts, self-respect and making healthy choices. In the
higher grades it focuses on appropriate attitudes toward
substance use as well as personal and interpersonal skills
for dealing with substance use through role play, games,
group activities, individual worksheets and class
discussions. Each grade level contains age appropriate
material.

15. CMCA – (Communities Mobilizing Change on Alcohol)
 This program involves your whole community,
parents, law enforcement, city council, county
commissioners, school administrators & counselors,
businesses, churches, etc. This strategy was
implemented to increase enforcement of underage
drinking due to inconsistent enforcement and lack of
parental monitoring and involvement. In our efforts
to reduce underage drinking we have increased
awareness, implemented programs, provided
students with alcohol-free activities and built
relationships. Our sheriff’s department has
implemented saturation patrols as well as numerous
prevention presentations. Parents have volunteered
to host activities as well as chaperone. Methodist
Church provided a 5th quarter party after every home
game.

16. Life of An Athlete
 Life of An Athlete was implemented to increase youth
drug-free activities and increase commitment to
staying drug-free and enforce school policies. We
implemented this program by requiring all coaches to
host a pre-season meeting with parents and student
athletes. Coaches were required to go over the
sports policies as well as the drug-free school policy.
At the end of the meeting, parents and students were
asked to sign a signature page that stated they have
read and understand the coaches rules and the
districts policy on drugs and alcohol.

17. YouthFriends – Mentoring Program
 YouthFriend is a program designed to
increase academic achievement, promote
education and build self-esteem. We
started our program by partnering adults
with students to help with reading. Adults
volunteer their time to work with children
once a week for 30 minutes to an hour.
We had several volunteers who would
come in and work with multiple students in
other areas they needed help in.

18. Sectors
(Organizations that helped us reach our goals)
 Education
 Law Enforcement – Sheriff
Department
 Media
 Faith
 Youth Serving Organizations

19. Key Leaders – Supporters of our Efforts
 School Board, Administration,
Counselors, and Teachers
 Coalition Members
 Sheriff Department
 YouthFriend Volunteers
 Parents
 Youth
 Newspaper Staff

20. Involvement Tactics
 Utilize Youth-Serving agencies and churches to help provide
some alternate activities for youth and promote a healthier
life-style.
 Get youth involved! ( Sports, Student Council, KAYS, etc.)
 Work with the prevention center, parents, administrators to
create an alcohol education program for youth & parents
starting at the kindergarten level.
 Involve parents in all activities and prevention programs.
 Keep sectors and representatives engaged in prevention
efforts.

21. Greenbush Ropes Course
Youth Building Relationships,
Leadership & Trust

22. Kansas Youth Leadership Summit
Student Involvement
 In an effort to get more
students involved we selected
a good core of students to
attend the Kansas Youth
Leadership Summit. This
summit is a life changing
experience. Students and
team leaders attend sessions
that are hands-on and teams
come up with great ideas to
get others more involved. This
program really motivates and
inspires. This has been a
huge asset in building our
Youth Coalition group.

23. Relationships
 Many relationships have been built to assist in our
efforts to prevent & raise awareness. This is the
key to success!
 Student involvement – When students have
purpose and inspiration, they are more likely to be
involved.
 Parent involvement – Parents are very supportive
to host or be a part of alternate activities and help
with prevention efforts. Keep them engaged!

24. Proudest Moments
 Youth Involvement
 Relationship built with Sheriff’s department and
school
 Success of the programs and strategies
 Reaching Our Goals
 KCTC Survey participation

25. Youth Involvement
Kansas Youth Leadership Summit

26. Sheriff’s Department
Serves breakfast @ Afterprom

27. Reaching our Goals

28. Kansas Communities That Care Survey
100 %
Participation