The Best Practices prevention program follows the Strategic Prevention Framework and requires collaboration with a local coalition in the City of Milford.
Bridges and The Milford Prevention Council (MPC) work together to address underage drinking and other identified substance abuse issues in the community. The Milford Prevention Council is a coalition of community members working together to prevent and reduce substance use among youth. The goals are to:
• Reduce underage drinking and substance abuse in the community
• Reduce risk factors that minimize substance abuse
• Promote protective factors that minimize substance abuse
• Strengthen and diversify community collaboration
The MPC is representative of the 12 key sectors necessary for the Strategic Prevention Framework. The risk factors related to underage drinking that are being addressed include: Retail Availability of Alcohol, Low Enforcement of Liquor Laws and Family Norms that Accept/Encourage Underage Drinking.
Through implementation of the Strategic Plan, the Milford Prevention Council is addressing the problem of underage drinking by utilizing multiple evidence based strategies. These strategies include the following: compliance checks, merchant education, enforcement of underage drinking laws, , awareness/media campaigns, student and parent presentations and community-wide parent forums.
The overall goals and objectives for the Bridges Best Practices Initiative and The Milford Prevention Council are to reduce underage drinking. The Bridges Best Practices Initiative and The Milford Prevention Council also intend to address the problem of marijuana by utilizing evidence-based environmental strategies. The strategy that we are focusing on is a Media/Social Norms Campaign. The overall goals and objectives for the Milford Prevention Council are to increase youth perception of risk and to reduce past 30 day use of marijuana.