AGENCY REPORT

Raven Fly Above Drugs Wellness Campaign 2015

Tiffany Green
Wilmington University
Professor Linda Payne

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Ravens Fly Above Drugs Wellness Campaign 2015
The Ravens Fly Above Drugs wellness campaign came to existence due to the rise in
Heroin use, arrest and overdose of young people in Sussex County located in southern Delaware.
The Sussex County communities include Lewes, Georgetown, Milford and Salisbury to name a
few. According to the Delaware Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant Strategic
Plan (SPF-SIG), Delaware, like most states is witnessing an increase in the incidence and
prevalence of substance abuse and its negative, often life altering, impact on its residents. These
increases come after a decade of major declines in tobacco use and modest declines in other
substance use in Delaware. The data is an indication of the need for renewed prevention efforts
in the state. Although small in its geographic size, the need for a comprehensive, statewide,
formalized and sustainable substance abuse prevention system across the life span is critical.
Mission-Statistic
The Delaware Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant (SPF-SIG) is to
create a culturally competent, evidence-based, statewide, substance abuse prevention system that
is relevant to and sustainable at the community level is the mission of the program according to
Mr. Dye.
Some current statistics based on a lectures from Rita Landgraf, Secretary of Delaware
Health and Human Service said that there are 16 deaths per month as a result of substance abuse
in Delaware. Also according to Sectary Landgraf, a study that was conducted by University of
Delaware in 2013 revealed the following:

35% of 11th graders admit to using Alcohol in 2013 which is 1 out of 3 drinking
64% of 11th graders used in that past year.

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71% of 11th graders used in their lifetime.

14% of 8th graders report monthly use of Alcohol which is 1 out of 7
31% of 8th graders used in the past year
40% of 8th grades use in their lifetime
According to Secretary Landgraf, she stated the need for prevention and education is very

important to decrease the use of alcohol and drugs. The statistics below identify arrested and the
amount of drugs that was seized within the past 2 months in Sussex County.

1/14/2015 8 people was arrested, 3500 bags of Heroin was found in Millsboro
1/21/2015 1 person was arrested, 14,994 bags of Heroin was seized in Milton during

traffic stop (Delmarva Now, 2015)

1/26/2015 4 people was arrested, 8000 bags of Heroin was found in Sussex

Community (Delmarva Now, 2015)

2/10/2014 1 person was arrested and 2300 bags of Heroin was found in Georgetown.

Demographics
According to the DSPF-SIG Strategic Plan there is currently 175, 818 people residing in
Sussex County. Our target population are the students at Sussex Technical High School. The
current enrollment according to Stacey Kemp there are 1,534 students.

Policies and Procedures

During all presentations it must be delivered on the foundation principles of the Strategic
Preventative Framework (SPF). This basis is also what the Substance Abuse and Mental Health

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Service Administration (SAMHSA) utilizes. According to the SAMHSA website the SPF is a 5step planning process that guides the selection, implementation, and evaluation of evidencebased, culturally appropriate, sustainable prevention activities. The SPF's effectiveness begins
with a clear understanding of community needs and depends on the involvement of community
members in all stages of the planning process. The 5 Steps are as followed:
1.

Assess Needs

2.

Building Capacity

3.

Plan

4.

Implement

5.

Evaluation
.
Ravens Fly Above Drug Structure
The structure of the Ravens Flys Above Drugs wellness team consist of the following:

Program Director, Purcell Dye. Mr. Dye is a Certified Teacher in Delaware and New Jersey as
well as the Clinical Director at Dover Behavioral Health. His primary task is to organize and
implement the Delaware Substance Abuse and Mental Health (DSAMH) direct objectives and
goals outlined within the Strategic Prevention Framework. Mr. Dye also will do presentations.

Nurse Practitioner Stacey Kemp. Mrs. Kemp coordinates days and times for the team to
do the presentations with the teachers. Mrs. Kemp is also the point of contact if teachers
request presentations for their classes.

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Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselors (CACD) for presentations: William Singleton,

Douglas Spruill, and Donna Bolger.

Administrative Intern: My role is as a program assistance. I attend all meetings, trainings
and presentations. I distribute surveys, collect data and analyze it. I complete
administrative duties such as, PowerPoints, excel spredsheet, document review and
correspondence in regards to the campaign. I provided feedback and value input directly
to the Program Director.
Governance
The LaRed Health Center located in Sussex County had been awarded the grant but did

not have a program director to implement. When Mr. Dye was approached by LaRed regarding
the opportunity to lead this program, he graciously accepted. Mr. Dye provided a descriptive
proposal that detailed how the he would apply all 5 stages of the SPF, in essence creating the
Ravens Fly Above Drugs wellness campaign. It is funded by the Center for Substance Abuse
and Prevention (CSAP), the SPF SIG program provides funding to States, Jurisdictions and
Tribes to implement SAMHSA's Strategic Prevention Framework (SAMSHA, 2015). According
to Mr. Dye the grant that was awarded was $35,000.00. This money must be used to compensate
team, guess speakers, purchase materials, campaign posters, t-shirts and stickers etc.

Strengths, Challenges and Trends

According to Mr. Dye the challenges for this program was creating it without a base
model. He stated that this was the first school campaign of its kind, so he had nothing to

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reference it to. Also he mention that the program had started 4 months late. The grant was
awarded in September 2014 at the beginning of the school season but it was not being utilized.
He just received approval in January to pick up where others had left off and begin to provide the
services to the students. Another challenge is he has no way of measuring if this program is being
implemented successfully. At the present time he has submitted narrative reports to Delaware
SPF SIG Project manager but still have not received any feedback. But despite not having
feedback we will continue to fulfill the commitment to the students. So far we have received
positive feedback from the teacher, students and staff, many of whom approached me to inform
me that the presentation was great and informative.
The trends that the program face is ever-changing. On social media it depicts that using
drugs is acceptable and without consequences is challenging. These presentations has to provide
awareness of the students favorite entertainers, actors and actress exposing that substance abuse
that they glamorize can be deadly.
Agency Collaboration
The RFAD campaign has offered opportunities for collaborations and trainings with other
agencies. On Saturday February 21, 2015, Mr. Dye and I had the honor to attend the Delaware
Preventions Summit presented by Community Anti-Drug Coalition America (CADCA).
Delawares Secretary of Health and Human Service Rita Landgraf did the opening remarks. She
expressed how the Governor Markell understood the need these programs to exists and fully
support those who labor to help the communities with this issue. The Director Kareemah
Abdullah, who is also the Vice President of Training Operation was in attendance and spoke
briefly about her vision for more Delawareans youth to partner up the CADCA. The summit
offered invaluable information and approaches of how people can get involve to help remedy

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substance abuse in their communities of all ages. We both received some great information to use
in our upcoming presentations.
This internship has offered me array of opportunities to meet some knowledgeable people
who have the same mission as me, which is to help a vulnerable population. I hope to one day be
a member of the CADCA so that I can continue to learn and to promote wellness, empowerment
and volunteerism back to my community. I am happy with my experience so far.

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References
University of Delaware Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies. (n.d). Delaware Strategic
Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant. Retrieved from:
www.dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dsamh/files/spfsigsp.pdf
Dye, P. (2015, February 17). Program Director. (T. Green, Interviewer)
Kemp, S. (2015, January 30). Nurse Practitioner. (T. Green, Interviewer)
Landgraf, Rita. (2015, February 21). Delaware Drug Problems. Lecture presented for the
Delaware Prevention Summit Meeting: Army National Guard Center, Smyrna Delaware.
Unknown. (2015, January 22). Drug bust nets more than 8,000 bags of heroin. Retrieved from
DelmarvaNow:
http://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/local/delaware/2015/01/22/drug-bust-heroin/22172965