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Project Services

The Prevention Partnership Grant (PPG) is three-year project funded by the Florida Department of Children and Families and implemented in three middles schools in Calhoun County.  It represents a collaborative plan between the Chemical Additions Recovery Effort (CARE), Inc., the Florida Center for Prevention Research at Florida State University (FCPR/FSU), the Panhandle Area Educational Consortium (PAEC) and the Calhoun County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalitions.  It integrates three proven science based prevention strategies Too Good for Drugs, Social Norms Marketing, and Guiding Good Choices.  The combined approach is designed to reinforce positive and healthy behaviors among targeted middle school students through the implementation of appropriate prevention and early identification interventions within the targeted school districts.

Too Good for Drugs is a universal prevention program designed to mitigate the risk factors and enhance protective factors related to alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD use).  The program introduces and develops social and emotional skills for making healthy choices, building positive friendships, communicating effectively, and resisting peer pressure

Social Norms Marketing is an Evidence Based Prevention Practice that employs contemporary marketing concepts to promote the positive social and health-related norms of ‘alcohol non-use’ practiced by the majority of students.  The social norms intervention exposes the target population to accurate healthy attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviors of the majority regarding ATOD use in order to correct inaccurate information that is driving unhealthy practices.

The Guiding Good Choices (GGC) curriculum was selected to target 5^th grade students and their families because of the documented risk factors associated with transition from elementary school to middle school.  National and state data indicates that students traditionally have a significant increase in alcohol and other drug use as student’s progress from middle school through high school

The GGC curriculum will assist in strengthening bonds and reducing risk factors toward ATOD.  Moreover, the program will increase a positive, healthy environment within all of the targeted middle schools. 

The Teen Norms Middle School census survey, developed by Northern Illinois University, will be administered annually to collect ATOD data about middle school students in each school.  The essential measures are: typical behaviors and attitudes; perceptions of peers’ typical behaviors and attitudes; protective behaviors; negative consequences; and exposure to social norms messages.  The data will be analyzed to identify protective, healthy behaviors already prevalent in the target population.