The Alliance for Better Communities is a community-based coalition seeking to involve members from all twelve community sectors to address the issues of underage and young adult drinking and substance use, with a special emphasis on prescription-drug and heroin abuse. The Alliance is comprised of representatives from the various sectors: youth, parents, business, law enforcement, media, healthcare providers, human service providers, youth-serving organizations, civic organizations, faith community, substance use treatment providers, and representation from local, state, and/or federal governmental agencies.
Members assess the conditions and factors in our community that contribute to specific negative behaviors and work to address these at the environmental level through awareness campaigns, local advocacy, and collective action. We help members of our community identify issues of concern that impact youth and develop strategies to address these issues and work to create community-level change. When all the sectors of a community come together to address a common issue, change can happen!
The Alliance is an outgrowth of the Rapid Response Workgroup, which was established in February 2012 to address the synthetic-drug crisis. Once a local ordinance was signed by the Jefferson County Legislators on October 2, 2012, the Workgroup pivoted to address the rising prescription-drug-abuse issue.
In February 2014, the Workgroup applied for the Drug-Free-Communities (DFC) grant under the proposed name of Alliance for Better Communities. Since the Alliance was awarded federal DFC funding, the Alliance has employed systematic environmental strategies to positively affect the health and safety of youth and young adults in Jefferson County.
Currently, the Alliance also includes work with the Neighborhood Watch, Healthy Jefferson County and the Youth Alliance
