When the Bureau of Prevention within NH's Dept. of Health & Human Services received an $11 million 5-year federal grant a few years ago to regionalize how prevention services for alcohol abuse are provided to children and teens around the state, it created 10 regional coalitions to accomplish the task. The greater Nashua region is one of those coalitions, with the United Way of Greater Nashua acting as fiscal agent and home for a full-time Coalition Coordinator. Our regional effort was named the Greater Nashua Community Prevention Coalition (GNCPC). Its new name is Beyond Influence.
Suzanne was invited to serve on the coalition's governing body, the Oversight Board, in 2007, and she also accepted the role of chairing the Board (her term as Chair ends in December 2010). The Board provides competitive grant awards to organizations in the region, providing oversight to the grantees and ensuring accountability regarding fulfillment of the grant proposal. The initial effort of the Board and a membership group of providers and interested parties will target youths ages 12-17 and young adults 19-34.
Among the initiatives sponsored by the coalition are the Safe Homes program, a voluntary pledge-based program in which parents and guardians of children under 21 agree to not allow liquor to be available in their homes to under-age kids, and Buyer Beware, a program the NH Liquor Commission supports in which retailers check IDs and post signs to alert under-age customers that they will not be able to purchase alcohol in that establishment.
Included in the greater Nashua coalition are Amherst, Brookline, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, Lyndeborough, Merrimack, Milford, Mont Vernon, Nashua, Pelham and Wilton. The coalition brings together people representing the schools, police, the courts, the liquor commission, organizations for kids--such as The Boys and Girls Club and Big Brothers, Big Sisters--and other relevant stakeholders.
Read more about the coalition here. The site includes the Safe Home Pledge.