Drug Prevention Coalition
of Douglas County
Established in 2011
Coalition History
Our Coalition began in the fall of 2011. It was a committee that was put together while community leaders were doing a health assessment. A survey was done to gauge what issues were facing our community. The community responded to the survey and the top issue listed was substance abuse.
Our beloved community has so many wonderful things and wonderful people. We all know that we struggle with certain things too. Drugs and alcohol have cause issues in communities all over the world and we are no exception. So a committee was born to help assess and begin prevention work on a broader scale.
The original group consisted of 18 members of the community. We are proud to say that the original agencies involved (and many of the original members) are still committed to and involved in the Coalition.
The committee was referred to as the CHIP-AODA group. Not a great name, but the initials were accurate at least. CHIP stands for the Community Health Improvement Plan and AODA stands for Alcohol and Other Drugs of Abuse. Whew, what a mouthful.
In 2016, the Coalition changed its name and entered into its second phase. The CHIP-AODA group became the AODA Community Coalition or ACC. AODA is an acronymn that is widely used in our state to mean anything having to do with substance abuse, addiction or chemical dependency. People across the bridge always look at us funny when we say it.
The ACC joined up with a large coalition called the Northwoods Coalition. Northwoods is part of Marshfield Clinic. They are like a parent coalition that joins all other AODA-focused coalitions in the state. It was this partnership that allowed us to have access to state and federal funds to aid in our prevention work. What a great opportunity for our community! We were able to be a Partnership for Success community (PFS) which gave us federal dollars to work on opiate abuse prevention throughout the county. We also were able to many other projects and provide training to members of our community and law enforcement that we hadn’t had access to before.
This brings us to 2019 when we changed our name again. We wanted to find something more recognizable that was descriptive of our work. We became the Douglas County Drug Prevention Coalition (DPC). Meeting virtually from March 2020 through Fall of 2021 was a challenge to keep doing the prevention work. But we were determined.
We faced the year of 2021 with more prevention efforts and funding opportunities than we’ve ever had. We have big plans for this year and for the years beyond.
Our goal is to serve the whole County, not just Superior or Maple or Solon Springs. We are a great county with great people. The coalition is always looking for people who want to join us in our mission to address substance use in our community. If you are interested, please use the contact form on our contact page to get a hold of us. If you have questions or need help, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Want to check out what we’ve been up to?
The Coalition has been busy since it first began.
Check out our past projects here.