The Pride survey is a trusted method of obtaining substance use data from youth.  A thorough data collection will prepare Haywood County to apply for the Drug-Free Communities Grant (DFC).  DFC provides $125,000 per year for five years and allows the opportunity to hire a full-time coordinator.  Communities who receive DFC funding experience a reduction in past 30-day use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and illicit prescription drug use among youth.  DFC-funded communities have experienced long-term reduction in youth substance use (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, 2002-2018).  

The Pride survey was identified by the Substance Use Prevention Alliance as an action that, when combined with other actions in our community, has a strong potential to make a difference in Haywood County.  This is a new program in our community.

The survey would be conducted yearly in Haywood County's eight middle and high schools.  Students surveyed will be in 7th, 9th and 11th grades.  This process will continue for as long as possible.  

The priority population for the Pride Survey includes Haywood County Schools (HCS) students and staff, and the Pride survey aims to make a difference at the organization level. Implementation of the survey will take place in HCS.  Survey results will be anonymous and therefore not connected to a particular student.  Results will only be shared with HCS administrators, grant funders, and other approved individuals.  

This strategy addresses health disparities by identifying differences among the grade levels surveyed.  By obtaining quality data, the community will be better positioned to implement evidence-based interventions that will best serve each school.  Interventions selected will be ones recommended by DFC, a nationally-recognized grant program.  

2020 Update:

At this time, the Pride Survey has not been conducted.  The survey's length makes it difficult to administer during limited instructional time.  Haywood County Schools (HCS) gave approval for a brief survey about alcohol and vaping.  The survey was conducted January 2020 with all ninth-grade students enrolled in HCS.  To date, over 100 completed surveys have been returned.  Data analysis has been completed, showing that most students have not used alcohol or vaping devices.  Students perceive these substances as risky and know that their parents would not approve of using them.  In addition, approximately 16% of students reported past 30-day alcohol use and more than one-third have used vaping devices.  Funding for the survey came from the Partnership for Success grant awarded to Mountain Projects, Inc (Mountain Projects, Inc, 2020).  

                                                                                                             Photo credit: talkitoutclevelandcounty.com

The partners for the Pride survey include:

Evaluation Plan:

We plan to evaluate the impact of the Pride survey through the use of Results-Based Accountability™ to monitor specific performance measures. We will be monitoring How Much, How Well and/or Better Off Performance Measures.  Our evaluation activities will be tracked in the Work Plan table, above. 

Sustainability Plan:

The following is our sustainability plan for conducting the Pride Survey: 

1. Performing Pride survey, resulting in data that equips the community to apply for Drug-Free Communities (DFC) funding.
2. Repeat the Pride survey annually to demonstrate need for prevention programming in the schools and community.  
3. DFC funding will be used for evidence-based interventions that result in long-term changes, such as policy and environmental changes.  
4. Performance measures- We will gather data on the number of students who participate and the percentage who participate.  Data gathered will include alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and illicit prescription drug use, key measures that have improved in DFC-funded communities (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, 2002-2018).  If the community receives DFC funding, changes in youth substance use will be assessed and communicated to funders.  
5. Key stakeholders- Stakeholders include Haywood County (HCS) Schools administrators and staff, the School Health Advisory Committee, Haywood County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) staff and members of the Substance Use Prevention Alliance (SUPA).  SUPA members include treatment providers, harm reduction advocates, medical providers, public health specialists, prevention providers and directly impacted community members.  
6. Program champions- These individuals include the SUPA chair and HHSA staff.  
7. Financial support- Support for the Pride survey comes from grant funding obtained by Mountain Projects.  Following the survey, our community will apply for DFC funding.  This grant will finance the survey during the five years of funding.  When the grant has ended, we will request ongoing funding through the HCS foundation and Haywood Healthcare Foundation.  
8. Communication- A decision will be made in partnership with HCS about beneficial ways to use the data.  We will also decide together on how to best educate the community about youth substance use.  Communication may include education about social norms.
9. Program value- This will be communicated by explaining the impact of collecting data (funding) and the impact on youth substance use as a result of receiving funding.  Successes will also be communicated to community leaders, such as the HHSA board and the Board of County Commissioners.  
10. Staff capacity- Existing school staff, including teachers and administrators, will distribute surveys to students and collect them.  Mountain Projects will collect the surveys from Haywood County Schools and submit them to the Pride survey company for evaluation.