Happy New Year! We’d like to take a moment to celebrate some of our 2022 successes. Last year, Prevention Solutions provided a wide range of training and technical assistance to prevention practitioners across the country, on topics ranging from substance misuse prevention on college campuses, to the intersection of substance misuse and problem gambling, to evaluation capacity-building.

Thank you to the many clients with whom we partnered to develop and deliver these services and products! Here’s a quick snapshot of some of the ones we’re most excited about:

• User-friendly ‘how-to’ guides to support implementation of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s resource Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse Among College Students. Five new guides focus on key aspects of prevention success, including effectively collaborating with local coalitions, considering culture, achieving collective impact, and mobilizing campus health centers and student leaders.
• Essential Measures toolkit for Massachusetts Heath Officers Association to support opioid prevention efforts. This one-stop reference guide contains the information local health departments need to create and implement prevention approaches that make a difference. Watch a short video about the toolkit here.
• Strengthening coalition functioning. Worked with the Canton Alliance Against Substance Abuse in Massachusetts to design, implement, and analyze a coalition member assessment, develop a comprehensive report, and share key findings with coalition members.
• Learning communities for the National Association of City and County Health Officers. Convened four interactive sessions, during which local health officers explored and developed plans for addressing the intersection of suicide, overdose, and adverse childhood experiences.
• Webinar series to prevent youth marijuana use. For the New England Prevention Technology Transfer Center, developed and delivered two webinars for Maine prevention practitioners on factors associated with underage marijuana use and strategies to prevent it—including resources for developing effective health communications campaigns. 
• Tools to reduce health disparities. Partnered with the Acton/Boxborough United Way of Massachusetts to develop and administer a resiliency survey of community members, with a focus on populations that have been traditional disenfranchised.
• Evaluation capacity-building in New York State. During the first year of a two-year process, worked with New York’s Office of Addiction Services and Support to identify the data needs of its local practitioners, then delivered a series of webinars on both foundational and more advanced evaluation topics. In year two, will pair expert evaluators with community-level prevention practitioners to provide intensive, 1:1 evaluation capacity building support.
• Bringing a restorative prevention lens to the Commonwealth. For the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, reviewed current literature, convened conversations with experts on equity-centered prevention, and defined a process for integrating a restorative prevention approach into local prevention work.
• Understanding the link between substance misuse and gambling prevention. For the  New York Council on Problem Gambling, reviewed and interpreted data they had collected about the state’s gambling prevention system, then convened staff and partners to discuss findings and develop strategic directions for their work.
• Youth focus groups. With the Needham Public Health Division in Massachusetts, designed and analyzed a series of focus groups to obtain a "ground level" perspective of substance use trends and needs. Developed a compelling infographic that summarized key themes, trends, and implications for substance use prevention and education strategic planning.

To learn more about these and other Preventions Solutions services, contact PS@EDC T/TA Specialist Jess Goldberg at jgoldberg@edc.org.