Pittsfield Drug and Alcohol Meeting Minutes
6:30 pm at the Pittsfield Youth Workshop
August 9th

In attendance: Zach Powers, Officer John Webber, Sarah Sadowski, Dan Ward, Denise Morin, Jamie Batson

Meeting called to order at 6:30 pm.

The goal of tonight’s meeting was to craft a strategic plan for the upcoming fiscal year.

I. Better understanding of status and potential of key stakeholders
a. The group took turns giving brief elevator speeches designed to highlight what PDAC does to different community members (physical education teacher, local retailer, parent, etc).
b. Requesting information from these sectors is as important as trying to transmit our information
c. Clarity regarding which stakeholders we are trying to recruit (and for what) is key- Local Residents and Youth were our two target groups. Neither of these sectors are required to be represented under NH’s new sector priorities (Healthcare, Education, Business, Government and Law Enforcement) but the group felt that these were most appropriate at the moment for Pittsfield’s context.

II. Drafting of scenarios moving forward
a. If PDAC is successful in carrying out our mission, how would things look in three years?
i. Continued improvement re: youth risk taking behavior as measured by the YRBS
ii. Fewer domestic violence calls and fewer police and emergency calls where alcohol or drugs are identified as a primary or secondary factor. Tracking drugs and alcohol as a factor in enforcement efforts will help us not only to see an association but also help publicize enforcement efforts
iii. Each of our 12 identified sectors (youth, media, business, parents, school, law, healthcare, government, faith, civic organizations, youth organizations and other substance prevention orgs) will be authentically represented
iv. Events such as National Night Out have more community involvement. The message to the community is clear and local people look forward to the event and volunteer. A PA system would help
v. A sticker shock campaign to draw in local youth will have been completed
vi. Our website will be informative and interactive. We will have a young person willing to help with social media
vii. A permanent message board outside of the PD to help get the word out about our efforts
viii. Improved recruitment and retention of volunteers, written job descriptions
ix. Less blame and more community ownership

III. Action Items
a. Clarifying and defining roles, not only within the Advisory Board but via volunteer descriptions as well: “Everyone has a role and is a champion for their area”
b. Follow up on the Y2Y pitch to Selectboard
c. Publicize PDAC as a community service opportunity for youth
d. Invite those who participated in the first PDAC meeting 3 years ago back to update them on what has been done since- graph and timeline as a marketing tool or address their concerns with a news letter or personal phone calls during one of our meeting nights

Jamie is going to think over the themes that came out in tonight’s meeting and have a follow up meeting with Sarah in which she will review recommendations for the strategic action plan.

The next PDAC meeting will be Monday, August 23rd at 6:30 pm at the Pittsfield Youth Workshop.

Respectfully submitted,
Sarah Sadowski