Educational Service District 123 (ESD 123) is one of eighteen recipients of
the Washington State Incentive Grant (SIG). SIG funds are allocated to
communities to prevent the use, misuse and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana
and other drugs by Washington State youth. Community grantees are expected to
make their local prevention system more effective by establishing prevention
partnerships, using a risk and protective factor framework for data driven needs
assessments, and by implementing and monitoring science-based prevention
programs.
Project Site
According to the 2000 Census, Benton County's population grew by 27% in the
past decade. The median household money income is $46,002, slightly higher than
the state median income of $41,715. The percent of children living below poverty
is 13%, slightly below the state level of 15%. The community of Finley tends to
have lower incomes and more children living in poverty than do other parts of
the county, according to informants working in the area. The 2000 Census reports
5,770 residents living in the community of Finley. The majority of the residents
(98%) are white.
Finley is a rural farming and bedroom community located near the Tri-Cities
of Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco. Finley lacks an internal infrastructure in
which to develop many resources for youth. The school is the only public
facility and it serves as the center of the community.
Prevention History
ESD 123 has been providing some prevention services in Finley. There are
prevention specialists in the middle and high schools, and the Benton County
Sheriff's Office operates a D.A.R.E. (Drug Resistance and Education) program.
A substance abuse coalition has been active in the nearby Tri-Cities of
Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland since 1989. While prevention concepts are new to
Finley, ESD 123 is experienced in using the risk and protective factor model to
organize data, conduct prevention planning, and implement and monitor
science-based prevention programs.
Summary of Progress Toward Community-Level Objectives Objective 1: To establish partnerships...to collaborate at the
local level to prevent alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other drug use, misuse,
and abuse by youth.
Prevention partnerships are not new to Benton County, but they are new to
Finley. The bedroom community lacks service providers. Partnerships that exist
are among the school, the Parent-Teacher Organization, ESD 123, and a few
community members.
The physical structures of the schools are excellent. There is a new
elementary school and the middle schoolwas remodeled last year. The high
school is undergoing renovation this year. Some in Finley would like to turn the
old elementary school into a community center, but funds are not available to
convert it at this time.
A SIG Advisory Board is composed of educators, youth, and parents in Finley.
The three main functions of the board are (1) to provide general education to
teachers, administrators and parents about drug abuse; (2) to bring the
community together with drug and alcohol free events; and (3) to collaborate
with DARE and the School Resource Officer in working with young people and
educating the community about drugs and their effects on health and the
community's well being.
Objective 2: To use a risk and protective factor framework to
develop a community prevention action plan...
and
Objective 3: To participate in joint community risk and protective
factor and resource assessment...
Substance abuse prevention and the use of Hawkins and Catalano's risk and
protective framework were not new to Benton County. The Benton-Franklin
Substance Abuse Coalition provided some prevention services and used the risk
and protective framework prior to SIG. Benton-Franklin Counties conducted a
community needs assessment, but these data did not adequately represent the
Finley community.. The project director used data from the Finley School
District's 1998 Washington State Survey of Adolescent Health Behavior to
identiFiscal Year risk factors for the SIG project.
Indicator data have been used in planning at the county level, but not
specifically for the community of Finley until ESD 123 used the school survey
data for the SIG proposal.
Objective 4: To select and implement effective prevention actions...
The SIG process encouraged the choice of programs shown through published
research to be effective in different locales and with multiple populations. ESD
123 sub-contracted with the Benton-Franklin Substance Abuse Coalition to provide
a prevention specialist for Finley schools as part of the SIG project. The
prevention specialist taught anti-tobacco and other drug classes during the
regular school day. The ESD, in collaboration with the schools and the
community, chose several science-based programs for the SIG project, including:
Project Alert, Project Northland, Multi-Prevention Components Approach, Family
as A Team, and Summer Challenge Program. In addition to teaching, the SIG
prevention specialist, ESD middle school coordinator, and the ESD
intervention/prevention specialist worked with parents and other community
members to engage families with the schools and the PTO.
Overall, the SIG project served hundreds of 4th - 9th grade youth and
some parents with five prevention programs. Through Project Northland and
Multi-Link Community Approach, youth were empowered to work on community and
school change by educating others about what they learned of the health dangers
of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. Below is a brief summary of the programs
presented to the schools and in the community.
Project Alert: In total, 141 youth experienced the
video-based Project Alert in the second year. The booster class was given to
the 7th graders and the beginning class to the 6th graders. The second year
began slowly due to scheduling conflicts. Classes started in a new building,
and students, teachers, and administrators had to adjust to the new
environment. Some of the teachers, trained last year to facilitate Project
Alert this year, moved to another school and so were not available to teach.
This put an additional teaching load on the prevention specialist.
Project Northland: Seventy-six eighth-grade students
learned skills they need to make a good transition from junior to high school.
Since the textbooks for the health class arrived late, the prevention
specialist was able to use Project Northland material for the health
curriculum. This made the homework and final project part of the regular class
and thus the assignments were graded. Other components of the program were
teen dances and parent nights.
Multi-Link Community Approach: The program served 184 4th
and 5th graders this year. Students participated in a poster contest and
invited speakers to the classroom. The 5th graders attended DARE classes
during the first part of the school year and Multi-Link later. Students
completed home projects and made exhibits for a tobacco and health fair in
May. A spaghetti dinner was used to disseminate literature designed to educate
the public about drug abuse. In the spring of 2000, ESD 123, Finley Schools,
and Benton-Franklin Substance Abuse Coalition sponsored a community picnic.
Last year it was a big success with about 350 students and parents. This year's
picnic was even more successful with over 700 adults and youth attending.
Family As A Team: This program has been a challenge.
First, it was difficult to find the staff time to plan and implement it
because only one prevention specialist was assigned to the SIG project. He had
his hands full with the other programs. ESD 123 provided training to leaders
in February 2000, and staff began recruiting families. Eventually, eight
families signed up, but none finished the program.
Summer Challenge - ROPES Course: Attendance was lower than
anticipated last summer. The program was not marketed in the schools early
enough, according to the local SIG project director. It is scheduled to occur
again this summer. Enrollment is expected to be twice as high as last year
(2000).
Successes
Over 500 students and several parents benefited in some way from
the SIG project over the past two years.
Sixth and seventh graders were provided tools to resist drugs
through Project Alert.
Through Project Northland, eighth grade students learned how to
resist peer pressure and to develop social and competence skills.
Both 4th and 5th graders experienced Multi-Component School-Linked
Community, a program that emphasized parent involvement, student anti-tobacco
activism, and media interventions.
Challenges
Finley faces the need to enhance community self image and turn
the media around so that they report good things about Finley.
There are a large number of methamphetamine labs in the area.
During the first project year, the biggest challenge was working
with the teachers to get the curriculums into the classrooms after the
teachers had already prepared their yearly lesson plans. In the second year,
scheduling the prevention classes continued to be a challenge because of other
special programs and regular class requirements.
Even with start up difficulties, the Family as a Team program
managed to get 8 parents and 23 youth into the program. Unfortunately, none
finished the program. The PTO plans to take a more active role and recruit
parents to get them involved with the schools and prevention activities.
Conclusion
The ESD 123 SIG project made progress toward achieving the community level
objectives, as established by the Governor's Substance Abuse Prevention
Advisory Committee. During the last year of SIG community funding, ESD 123 and
the Finley SIG staff intend to develop methods to maintain some of the changes
they have achieved in the system of prevention planning, funding,
implementation, and monitoring developed under SIG.
Download Community Report
Click
on the PDF symbol to the left to download the brief description
to the achievements and challenges experienced in implementing
science based prevention in this community: "Educational
Service District 123, Benton and Franklin Counties, Executive
Summary of Community-Level Process Evaluation Reports" Publication Date: 04/2002. Report Number: 4.43-4a (155 KB)
Click on the PDF symbol
to the left to download a description of the prevention
activities and the main community partners: "Community
Project Description for Benton and Franklin Counties - Educational
Service District 123." Publication Date: 04/2002. Report Number: 4.43-4b (144 KB)
Click
on the PDF symbol to the left to download the components
of the community plan: "Project Action Plan for
Benton and Franklin Counties - Educational Service District
123." Publication Date: 04/2002. Report Number: 4.43-4c (327 KB)
Click on the PDF symbol
to the left to download the report of the first year activities:
"Benton and Franklin Counties, Educational Service
District 123 Washington State Incentive Grant 1st year Community
- Level Evaluation 1999-2000." Publication Date: 11/2000. Report Number: 4.43-4d (197 KB)
Click
on the PDF symbol to the left to download the report of
the second year activities: "Benton
and Franklin Counties, Educational Service District 123
Washington State Incentive Grant 2nd Year Community - Level
Evaluation 2000-2001." Publication Date: 04/2002. Report Number: 4.43-4e (264 KB)
Click on the PDF symbol
to the left to download data on changes in risk and protection
factors for prevention program participants: "Program
Outcomes" Publication Date: 04/2002. Report Number: 4.43-4f (102 KB)
Click on the PDF symbol to the left to download data on
changes in trends of risk and protection for the entire
community: "Community Outcomes Report - Benton and
Franklin Counties - Educational Service District 123" Publication Date: 04/2002. Report Number: 4.43-4g (75 KB)
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