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Multiple Strategies Video:
Transcript
Developed by CSAP's Northeast Center
for the Application of Prevention Technologies © 2002 Education Development
Center, Inc. All rights reserved.
Narrator:
As communities around the country are learning, the key to effective prevention
is to use multiple strategies, in multiple settings, toward achieving
one common goal. For example, two of the most important channels for delivering
health messages to an entire community are newspapers and local access
cable television. In Gloucester, Massachusetts, by developing a positive
and trusting relationship with local editors and reporters, the Gloucester
Prevention Network positioned its program to be a resource to these media
outlets.
Multiple Strategies
The Gloucester Prevention Network
Philip L. Salzman, Director Gloucester Prevention Network:
We’ve started to build a personal relationship with some of the
reporters, and the editor, trying to move from ‘We want you to promote
our program,’ to ‘our mission is about creating the healthiest
community we possibly can’ and how do we do that.
Narrator:
The trust established between the Prevention Network and the Gloucester
Daily Times continued to grow.
Philip L. Salzman:
And when that relationship got established, there was a sense of there’s
a mutuality here, that the prevention network is a resource, that its
mission is clear.
Narrator:
And when an alcohol-related car crash claimed the life of 15-year-old
Stephen Ross, as he walked home one night, the prevention network was
positioned to assist the Times in developing a year-long public service
campaign that examined the impact of alcohol and other drugs on the community.
Mickey A. Ratte, Community Organizer:
The community was devastated when this happened. They were absolutely
terrified that something like this could happen in their community. And
Steven was 15-years-old and the young man who hit and killed him was 20-years-old.
Bruce Tarr, State Senator:
And it was an incident that really shocked the whole community because
of the youth that were involved, both the individual that was driving
the car and because of Steven.
Multiple Strategies
Communication
Collaboration
Policy
Narrator:
The Gloucester Prevention Network was already using the strategy of communication
in its work with the local media: now it drew on existing relationships
across the community and its capacity for collaboration to make a statement
through a well-planned public event, a candlelight vigil. In turn, this
led to efforts involving policy change. So now three strategies—communication,
collaboration and policy change—were working together.
Mickey Ratte:
A whole group of young people and some church people got together and
said lets have as many people as possible in this very cold winter night
come out and have a candle light vigil with signs, letting people know
as they come into Gloucester that this is a community that cares about
how you drive here and what you do here.
James Marr, Chief of Police, Gloucester Police Department:
I can remember standing in Grants Circle, in probably one of the coldest,
blowiest evenings in a long time. And people were standing up there out
of respect for the family and for the tragedy, and sending a message not
to drink and not to drive, and sending a message not just on Cape Ann,
but across Cape Ann, and to other communities, through the news media.
I can recall the people standing up there in the freezing cold, and they
just had a feeling for the Ross family, and a feeling for everyone who
was involved in that situation.
Bruce Tarr:
And the grief didn’t drive this community into the ground; it joined
it together, just as it has in so many different occasions. The community
came together and said, this is a problem and what can we do that’s
practical. And so as a result of that, we began looking at how families
could talk about alcohol, and responsible use of alcohol, and we looked
at what we could do by way of having a better dialogue with the local
police department. But the most important thing I think was a change in
public policy of the nature of what we’ve talked about. There was
legislation pending in the Massachusetts legislature, that had been pending
for a few years, but frankly the bill was stuck in the legislature and
we had a tremendous amount of support from one of my colleagues, Senator
Antonioni, from Central Massachusetts and the connection came by Steven
Ross’ death, emphasizing the importance of changing the law.
Mickey Ratte:
The Gloucester Prevention Network contacted Senator Antonioni, who we
had heard was interested in passing a bill to reduce the alcohol in the
blood from .10 to .08 and he agreed that if we could get a large group
of people to come to city hall, that he would come and hear testimony
so he could build his case for reducing the blood alcohol count in the
state.
Bruce Tarr:
We had some of the most courageous testimony I had ever heard offered
by Steven Ross’ peers. And Steven Ross’ parents came before
that committee. That was a hard thing to do. It could have only happened
at Gloucester City Hall with the community standing around them giving
them the courage to go forward. And when that evening was done, we knew
that we were going to have success. And we did. And in fact, Senator Antonioni
was gracious enough to name the bill the Steven Ross Bill because of what
this community did to make it a reality. That’s what kind of an
impact we had. That’s what kind of an impact the Prevention Network
had, on making a law change that will impact generations to come.
Narrator:
This tragic incident led the local paper’s editorial board to consider
ways in which they could cover this story in a more comprehensive manner.
The paper turned to the Gloucester Prevention Network for assistance in
developing a yearlong campaign called Message in a Bottle.
Philip L. Salzman:
The Prevention Network was there as a community participant, to provide
the newspaper with objective resources and information that can help the
newspaper communicate to its readers what the nature of these tragedies
were, how it relates to the state or to the nation, and some specific
information that can be helpful.
Narrator:
Throughout the year, the Times provided ongoing coverage of alcohol-related
stories at the national, state, and most importantly, local level. The
paper editorialized in support of state legislation and local policies,
and prominently publicized accounts of the community’s alcohol arrests,
convictions, injuries, and mortalities. The campaign was a major success,
winning the National Commission on Drunk Driving Community Media Award.
Gloucester combined several strategies toward one common goal—to
pass legislation that would reduce the likelihood of further tragedies
like the death of Stephen Ross. Other communities, too, can examine their
own local situations and look for ways to combine effective multiple strategies.
The transcript of the video Multiple Strategies is taken from interviews
conducted in 1999. The video series was developed as part of our training
and technical assistance to the Northeast Region.
Executive Producer: Michael J. Rosati
Produced by Beacon Communications
Special thanks to the Gloucester Prevention Network, Gloucester, Massachusetts.
The contents of this program are solely the responsibility of its authors
and do not necessarily represent the official views of the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.
Funding for this program was provided by the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration,
Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Cooperative Agreement No. 5U1JSP08133-03-1.
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