Dubuque County Safe Youth Coalition

What it reported doing in 2012

Substance abuse among youth is a community problem which needs community involvement and solutions to resolve. The Dubuque County Safe Youth Coalition focuses on two major goals 1: establish and strengthen collaboration among Dubuque County communities to prevent and reduce substance abuse among youth and 2: reduce substance abuse among youth by addressing the risk and protective factors in the communities. Over the past year our coalition has successfully partnered with county leadership in law enforcement, schools and colleges, businesses, treatment and intervention programs, court system, and elected officials along with many other sectors of the community in an effort to build on each other's strengths and resources, showing a unified approach towards creating healthy communities.Successful activities implemented under the two goals include increasing capacity for the county-wide SPF-SIG Collaborating Council (Strategic Prevention Framework-State Incentive Grant) to address the two priorities of underage drinking and adult binge drinking. Ongoing analysis and evaluation of the project's action plans. Implementation of community readiness survey's related to underage drinking. Implementation of a county-wide community readiness survey related to marijuana use. Collected and analyzed trend data (alcohol, tobacco, marijuana) from the targeted geographical area of the Western Dubuque County community. Other achievements have involved the coalition actively engaged in a collaborative effort to implement an over-the-counter and prescription drug take-back program in conjunction with local law enforcement and other community partners, as well as local and state policy change to effectively address the accessibility and availability of alcohol, tobacco and nicotine products, marijuana and other drugs. Supporting Law Enforcements effort in providing the "Keepin It Real", an evidence-based drug prevention program to the public and parochial schools; an active planning partner in bringing the Kids Expo in Dubuque County Family Resource Fair to the rural community; "You Call the Shots" experiential learning alcohol educational program to area colleges, a collaborative with the County Attorney's office and the County Sheriff's Office; facilitated a collaborative effort with eight law enforcement agencies to deliver educational packets focused on policy change and seller/server training opportunities to 124 rural alcohol license holders and their employees; financial support for law enforcement hours directed towards reducing underage alcohol use, enforcement of the county Social Host ordinance and alcohol compliance checks; provided support towards a collaborative effort with four law enforcement agencies (Cascade, Dubuque, Dyersville, Farley) to collect, analyze and evaluate data for a Community ID Scanner Loan program targeted at reducing underage access to alcohol at community events; technical support to schools, colleges and a local community coalition alcohol and drug education committees; provided technical support to the alcohol prevention campus group at Northeast Iowa Community College; collaborated at the state-level with Iowa prevention coalitions and government entities on educating community members and legislators on marijuana for medical use and a State Social Host bill; provided technical support to a local coalition; provided technical assistance to the Iowa Alliance of Coalitions for Change, a state-wide network of prevention coalitions focused on reducing ATOD.Our major federal funding stream, the "Drug Free Communities Program", has helped local leaders organize to identify youth drug issues unique to our community and develop the infrastructures necessary to effectively prevent and respond to the disease of addiction. Funding over the past year has also supported infrastructure costs and provided specialized training opportunities and technical assistance to improve the operation of our coalition and enhance the s

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: Limited
• Program expense ratio: Limited
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 12th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 89%; rating input score 89; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Fail
  • Document-retention policy: Fail
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -65.2%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
• Officer compensation ratio: 50%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: Limited
• Revenue growth: -9.3% per year; rating input score 0; 44th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: -18.2% per year; rating input score 0; 16th percentile among comparable filings