February 2, 2006
National Coalition Registry Shows Alcohol, Marijuana
and Tobacco Most Common Concerns for Community Coalitions
Alcohol, marijuana and tobacco are the top problems noted by the nearly
1,000 coalitions participating in CADCA´s 2005 National Coalition
Registry. Two-thirds of coalitions cited alcohol as the substance causing
the most problems for their coalitions. Marijuana (59.3 percent), tobacco
(51.3 percent) and methamphetamine (32.9 percent) also were cited as
problem substances.
CADCA’s Registry is a Web-based survey that covers topics including basic
coalition descriptive information, e.g., geographic target area, budget,
and degree of focus on alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) issues;
activities/strategies; monitoring and evaluation activities;
sustainability efforts; and coalition membership.
The Registry was developed to provide policymakers, researchers, and
practitioners a single source to access up-to-date and undisputed
information on coalition information for funding, programming, and
research purposes. The main data collection period was January to April
2005. CADCA targeted coalitions through its various networks, asking
coalition leaders to take part in this important endeavor—and 981
coalitions responded.
Preliminary analyses of the Registry data provide a brief overview of
coalitions by self-described scope, activities/services commonly engaged
in, and primary substances of concern to coalitions. For example, most
coalitions (52 percent) identify themselves as county/regional coalitions
while 29.3 percent self-identify as city-wide and 7 percent as
faith-based. Among the responding coalitions, 22.3 percent cited a budget
between $100,001 and $500,000. Only 3.3 percent said they have a budget
over $1 million while 14.6 percent said they do not have a budget.
But while the budgets are relatively small, coalitions’ activities are
extensive. More than half (53.8 percent) report coordinating development
of community laws and policies that discourage substance abuse and 51.6
percent say they leverage enforcement of such laws. Nearly half (48
percent) coordinate drug-free social and recreational activities in their
community and 46.2 percent say they are involved in media advocacy, media
literacy and social marketing activities linked to substance abuse
reduction. Most coalitions list information dissemination (73.2 percent);
media awareness (63.9 percent) and community mobilization (57.5 percent)
as direct services/activities they provide.
So what do all these numbers mean? While these findings are only
preliminary and additional data analyses are planned, some initial
insights can be gleaned. Coalitions use local data to assess, plan and
evaluate their activities. Among the respondents, 85.2 percent report
collecting data on at least one of the four core measures required for
Drug-Free Communities Support Program funding. Forty percent report
collecting/utilizing arrest/incarceration data and 36 percent report they
collect/utilize alcohol/drug-related traffic fatality data.
Additionally, 65.7 percent of respondents report collecting data to
determine or monitor the extent of substance abuse problems in their
community; 59.7 percent report collecting data on risk/protective factors
for substance abuse and other related problems and 61.6 percent report
using data to prioritize substance abuse needs. Nearly 60 percent (58.4
percent) say they have developed a logic model for their coalition.
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