Region 4 – Northeastern Arkansas

The 2010 Arkansas Prevention Needs Assessment (APNA) results are available to you. APNA gives counties and regions a snapshot of ATOD use by youth, as well as the Risk and Protective Factors.

The APNA results can be viewed at arkansas.pridesurvey.com or at http://www.arkansas.gov/dhs/dmhs/adap_survey.htm

These surveys were administered to 6,8,10, and 12th grade students in the school districts across the state. Of the 30 districts in Northeast Arkansas (Region 4), 28 of them participated, yielding valuable data for many uses including improvement, planning, evaluation, and grants.

THANKS to our schools in Region 4!

(Clay, Craighead, Greene, Lawrence, Mississippi, Poinsett and Randolph are the counties in PRC Region 4).

NE Arkansas can be proud of each of our county coalitions and their prevention work and accomplishments. Adults, youth, health workers, schools, communities, businesses, law enforcement, and other sectors within each county have joined together to: 1) promote substance use/abuse prevention as a part of health and healthcare reform and prevention strategy,  2) build healthier and safer community environments, & 3) empower people to make healthy choices.

The coalitions are:  Clay County Prevention Coalition; Out of the Dark Coalition in Craighead County;  Greene County Prevention Coalition & TAC;  ATOD Coalition of Lawrence County & YIA;  Mississippi Co. Prevention Coalition & MCCTFA; Poinsett County Partners in Health Coalition; and Randolph County Cornerstone Coalition & YIA.

For more information on joining, contact Dorothy Newsom, PRC Coordinator in NE AR at dnewsom@crdcnea.com.

EVERYBODY, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, AND NOBODY

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody,  Anybody, and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody   would do it.  Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done!

WHICH ‘BODY’ ARE YOU?   Join your County Coalition

What better resource than YOUTH to lead a campaign to change negative perceptions about themselves? That’s just what youth from around the country are doing and it’s working!

Research proves that perception of drug use is a KEY factor for youth in their own choices of whether or not to use alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

This normative media campaign in NEA is based upon the Arkansas Prevention Needs Assessment (APNA) Data.  This campaign has been coordinated by Mark Degges.

Mark, a senior at U of A, interned and worked with CRDC:PRC & each of the seven county coalitions in  Northeast Arkansas (NEA) to make this poster campaign a success!

This marketing prevention strategy promotes ‘healthy mindsets and lifestyles’, including youth staying drug-free and making wise choices in everyday life.

Prevention is also about increasing protective factors. Some protective factors are drug-free teens being role models for youth, leadership experiences for teens, and positive community service projects for youth. Other protective  factors are recognition of youth for making wise choices, youth bonding to their schools, communities, and counties.

The poster campaign reflects the fact that the majority of our teens are not smoking  cigarettes, using tobacco products, drinking, smoking pot, or participating in prescription drug parties.

Posters are professionally designed and printed. Schools, churches, businesses, factory break rooms, offices, restaurants, community centers, gyms, medical facilities, and other places are the recruitment sites for the posters.

The Prevention Coalition in each NEA county, CRDC: PRC, & ADAP provided the funding for this media campaign, marketing specific county APNA Data.

Coalitions,  in each county, exist only because of community volunteers and leaders. A special THANKS to you.

Did you know…. most of our teens do not use ATOD:

Alcohol (past 30 day use) dropped from 19.8% in 2007-08 to 15.7% in 2010-11

Binge Drinking decreased from 13.5% in 2007-08 to 9.9% in 2010-11

Cigarette (past 30 days) fell from 12.9% in 2007-08 to 11.2% in 2010-11

Chewing Tobacco (past 30 day use) remained in 7-8% range over the past 4 years

The Community Risk of Perceived Availability of Drugs plummeted to 28% this year from 34% 4 years ago.

* Data from APNA arkansas.pridesurvey.com

Arkansas Tobacco Control and CRDC: PRC are hosting two Tobacco Workshops in Jonesboro on Tuesday, May 31. These workshops are targeting merchants and clerk who sell tobacco products and community members who are interested in healthy communities.

For more information about these free workshops, call CRDC: PRC at 870-933-0033, 926-9663, or dnewsom@crdcnea.com.

Hope to see you there!

Friends of Prevention:

Fox 16 has picked up on the news release…see link below.  I sent the press release to Ann Hines of the Oil Marketers Association and Michael Langley of Alcohol Beverage Control to solicit their help in notifying potential vendors they might notify.  Feel free to forward these messages to vendors as well.

http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story/Lazy-Cakes-recalled-by-Dept-of-Health/D2oOEy0dyES-dAt5oDVHpw.cspx

The Arkansas Department of Health is recalling all “Lazy Cakes” because the product contains melatonin which has not been approved for general food use.

Terrence R. Love  Prevention Resource Center 6
Community Service, Inc.   Morrilton, AR 72110
Phone: 501-354-4589   Cell: 501-472-6632

NEA is thankful for Terry and his watchful eye on prevention and sharing with PRC Region 4-NEA.

Get involved in your community and county.  Join the local Prevention Coalition in your county and “make a difference”! For more information about how to get involved in your community, contact Dorothy Newsom at dnewsom@crdcnea.com or call 870-926-9663.

Terry Love is President of APNet-Arkansas Prevention Network. APNet is a group of people concerned about prevention and are the “Voice of Prevention”.  APNet has a website that you may want to explore and learn more about this advocacy group.