Project Summary:
Excessive alcohol use is a major community-prioritized health issue in Wisconsin. We know alcohol’s harms, and we know how to address them, but policy change has come slowly in the state. Wisconsin’s hybrid regulatory system for alcoholic beverages creates an environment where policy changes are slow and depend upon the interest of local elected officials, many of whom remain reluctant to consider public health or are unaware of the rationale for considering public health when making their alcohol licensing decisions.
The question remains: how to motivate elected officials to prioritize reducing excessive alcohol use? Data regarding alcohol’s impacts has been presented to policymakers for many years, yet significant policy change seems stalled. Current efforts are based on assumptions, not empirically based knowledge of what data decision-makers care about or why they haven’t passed more policies to prevent alcohol harm. Why not pose these questions instead of continuing to act from assumptions?
Our approach is straightforward. Using Rock County as a pilot project, in the first phase, we intend to talk directly to decision-makers of alcohol policies: local elected officials and the professionals who are involved in alcohol policy decisions either directly or as advisors to elected officials, such as city and county administrators, staff, and commissioners. We want to learn as much as possible about the data and arguments they say would be most helpful to them and that they would be most willing to use when considering alcohol policies. Once this information is collected, it will be used in a second phase to craft informational tools and strategies to support policymakers’ needs. These tools will be locally customizable.
By providing applicable information and data, the tools will support local health departments, coalitions, and advocates in their efforts to improve their local alcohol environment in communities throughout the state.