Scott County Health and Education Coalition (SCHEC) celebrated the successes made towards reducing and preventing underage drinking in Scott County on Wednesday, June 2.  During the meeting, 3 awards were given for Prevention Person of the Year and Prevention Organization of the Year.  Melissa Brewer and Joel Campora were named Prevention Person of the Year for their hard work towards underage drinking prevntion this past year.  The City of Waldron Police was named Prevention Organization of the Year for their work in the community preventing and reducing underage drinking.

Arkansas Prevention Needs Assessment (APNA) for Scott County shows a 18% decline since 2007 in past 30 day use of alcohol by 10th graders and  17% decline in binge drinking since 2007 by 10th graders.  Many other successes were seen on the data  including the average age of first alcohol use rising from 12.1 years to 13.4 years.

SCHEC is currently in the third year of the Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant (SPF SIG).  SCHEC has implemented evidenced based programs and practices into the community since 2007 to reduce and prevent underage drinking in Scott County.

At the June meeting, Coordinator, Melissa Gasaway was also presented a plaque for her service at SCHEC the past 3 years.  Gasaway and her family will moving to El Dorado.

For more information about SCHEC contact 207-4177 or visit www.scottcountycoalition.com.