RD160 - Governor's Office for Substance Abuse Prevention Annual Report - 2004


Executive Summary:
In last year’s Governor’s Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (GOSAP) Annual Report it was reported that the GOSAP had laid the foundation for a strong prevention infrastructure at the state level by establishing the GOSAP Collaborative and by actively building consensus around a strategic plan for prevention.

This year the GOSAP, in collaboration with the GOSAP Collaborative, is pleased to report substantial progress in implementing Virginia’s plan for prevention and in developing tangible resources that place the Commonwealth at the cutting edge of prevention nationally. Prevention achievements reported here include the following:

• A Social Indicators Database project is creating one-stop, user-friendly web access to critical data for state- and local-level prevention needs assessments, strategic planning, benchmarking and measuring progress.

• A prevention “primer,” titled Our Common Language: A Quick Guide to Prevention Terminology in Virginia, was developed to make prevention science more understandable and to contribute to improved communication, planning, evaluation and reporting within the prevention community statewide.

• The GOSAP Collaborative has identified elements of a best practices model for prevention programming in Virginia and has begun to reach consensus about cross-agency standards for the management of prevention grants.

• The second statewide KIDsafe Virginia Prevention Conference, held in Richmond on November 16, 2004, was attended by an overflow crowd of 365 prevention leaders from throughout Virginia.

• The GOSAP Web Site is being re-designed to serve as the GOSAP Collaborative’s central clearinghouse for prevention information, resources and best practice solutions.

• KIDsafe Virginia has continued to serve as a very effective child personal safety and public awareness initiative during its second year of implementation.

• The Protect & Respect initiative has continued to improve the safety of Virginia’s senior citizens through crime prevention education and through intergenerational projects that improve the safety and well being of both seniors and youth.

• Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act grants were awarded to 21 projects to support youth substance abuse and violence prevention efforts in more than 35 Virginia communities.

• Virginia’s State Incentive Grant initiative continued to support the efforts of 20 prevention coalitions, to support a capacity-building training initiative, and to coordinate an Advisory Council that serves as a valuable source of local input.

• An official report to the Governor, titled Virginia’s Youth Speakout! About Crime and Public Safety, was publicly unveiled at the KIDsafe Virginia Prevention Conference in November 2004. Representing the voices of 550 students from 79 high schools, the report includes numerous recommendations for addressing the crime and safety issues that most concern youth.

• Youth leadership development opportunities continued through the 20th Annual Youth Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Project Conference where 80 high school teams from throughout Virginia were trained, before developing plans for youth-led prevention projects in their home schools and communities.

Building upon numerous recent achievements, the GOSAP will continue to provide leadership and coordination in the collaborative implementation of Virginia’s substance abuse prevention plan. In addition to completing implementation of the Web-based Social Indicators Database Project and Virginia Prevention Information Clearinghouse, the GOSAP Collaborative will seek to formalize Virginia’s model for prevention programming and standards for prevention grants management. Additionally, the Prevention Through Information initiative, funded by a recently awarded U.S. Department of Education grant, will create unprecedented access to school crime and violence data and provide extensive opportunities for training in data-driven prevention planning and evaluation.