The mission of the Washington Association for Substance Misuse And Violence Prevention (WASAVP) is to unite prevention advocates in Washington State to create safe and healthy communities through prevention of substance misuse and violence.
Prevention First! for Safe and Healthy Communities.
What is Community-based Prevention?
"Community-based Prevention and Prevention Coalitions" - Community-based prevention means working together to keep an entire local area healthy and safe. It uses many methods like educating people, making environments safer, teaching life skills, changing policies, and building strong connections among community members. Often, a community prevention coalition - made up of a diverse group of local resident - leads these efforts. For substance misuse prevention, the coalition’s goal is to delay young people from starting to drink or use drugs and to encourage adults to reduce or stop their alcohol and drug use.
Prevention efforts like education programs and mentoring can focus on different levels of risk: universal (for everyone), selective (for those at higher risk), and indicated (for those showing early signs).
Research findings show effectiveness of Community-based Prevention
“Community interventions involving coalitions or partnerships to prevent substance use among youth are recommended.” – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
"Evidence-Based Prevention Programs are Cost Effective.” – Washington State Institute for Public Policy
“Community Prevention and Wellness Initiative (CPWI) communities had significantly greater reductions in all four alcohol use outcomes and two peer-individual risk factors than comparison communities.” – Washington State University
“The findings support community-level prevention planning that uses epidemiological information on levels of community and family risk and protective factors to identify areas of elevated risk and low protection to be targeted for community-based preventive interventions.” – Journal of Community Psychology
“It is more evident than ever that when solutions are developed by the community and for the community, rooted in authentic relationships with the people most affected, they are more likely to be successful and sustainable.” – Gates Foundation
