Events and Activities : Above the Influence Coalition Agenda

Meeting Agenda 8/19/2010 

Welcome to a new year! Members present- Brandi Kelchen, Vicki Clair, Emily Miller, Greg Walston, Nancy Farmer, Kim Miller, Patricia Miskimen, Kelsey Kimm, Marissa Eldred, Tammy Morrison, Elysia Cain, Jim Thompson, Elise Healzer 

Grants update and 2010-2011 possibilities-

We are still waiting to hear on the Grant to Reduce Alcohol Abuse (our BIG grant with the schools). NOTE: Since this meeting we received notification that we did NOT receive this grant. However, action will continue in Benton County under different grants.

      We have money in other grants to provide things such as a breathalyzer, TIPS training for servers, and social marketing campaigns.

      Other things members were interested in: learning more about energy drinks and possibly facilitating policy reform on age restrictions and consumption in schools, etc. 

“Be the Wall” campaign- The Fall 2010 social marketing campaign, Be the Wall- Taking a stand against underage drinking, is in progress. We have ‘brick’ pledge cards for people to sign and place together with others to build a wall of pledges. It is our hope that we will have a big media event where these pledges will be displayed at the courthouse during Red Ribbon Week. We will invite parents, students, law enforcement, political figures, and many more to witness us place this wall and pledge to help the community prevent underage drinking. 

Billboard- We have the opportunity to place a billboard in Vinton. At the meeting, it was decided that the best time to place this billboard will be during the prom/graduation time period, since we’re looking at having a space close to the high school on 218. 

Logo- At the meeting, members were given the choice of 4 logos to vote on for our coalition.                       

            We would like to put this logo out in the community, so if you have ideas on where to get this out please let me know! Consider including the graphic on your e-mail signature to support our cause, or placing it in your organization with some brochures to help spread the word! 

Take Charge conference- Although our youth summit was cancelled this summer, we have the opportunity to take students from all area high schools to a conference in Cedar Rapids for youth interested in working against substance use. The students will attend for free, we will provide free transportation, and they will come back with LOTS of great information to get their friends excited about prevention work! If you have a student interested in attending, please contact ecain@asac.us for a registration form. If you are interested in volunteering for the event, we would love to have you, please contact me! 

Taking on tobacco- This coalition has been given the opportunity to take on tobacco prevention as well as underage drinking in Benton County. Basically this just means sharing important tobacco legislation news, and including tobacco information at booths and presentations. Those attending the meeting were in support of becoming a tobacco coalition as well.

 Our next meeting will be:
Thursday, September 16th, 12-1 p.m., Belle Plaine Community Center, 1309 5th Ave. Belle Plaine, IA

Lunch will be provided, we will be discussing the subject of energy drinks more in depth, and continuing our work on the ‘Be The Wall’ campaign and Red Ribbon Week. 

Sincerely,

Jenn Draper