Alaska has the nation's highest rate of illegal drug use, according to a recently released study by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Although the Haines schools participate in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, according to a report on drug and alcohol use among Haines students prepared by RMBSI, Inc. (summary attached) 91% of Haines 12th graders had tried alcohol as opposed to 81% of 12th graders nationally, 82% had been drunk as opposed to 62% nationally, and 89% had smoked cigarettes as opposed to 65% nationally. The library is experiencing increasing use by a community with high unemployment and large numbers of at-risk children and youth.

According to Haines Police Department records, the majority of its calls are related to drug and/or alcohol abuse. Incidents range from domestic violence, disorderly conduct, and DWI to homicide. This fall the Haines community was shocked and grieved by the death of a youth when a vehicle driven by an intoxicated friend crashed. In the past 15 years Haines and Klukwan have lost 14 individuals in deaths related directly to drug or alcohol use. (Articles attached.) With these tragic incidents occurring about once a year, there is vocal public recognition of the need for more education on the potential impacts of substance abuse.

Although exact statistics are not available, local health providers reported in Perspectives planning sessions that a significant percentage of their case loads is connected to problems directly or indirectly related to substance abuse. Their clients include people of all ages, economic status and resident ethnic groups. A recent survey related to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) proves that residents of Haines and Klukwan lack awareness of some significant impacts of alcohol abuse and need a broadly disseminated education program, despite Public Service Announcements broadcast on the Alaska Public Radio Network on the effects of alcohol use during pregnancy. The proposed Perspectives project will assist communities in approaching the level of awareness termed "Professionalization" in the attached FASD study.

As well as the documented community need in rural Alaska for public education regarding the impacts of substance abuse, there is also a community need for opportunities and venues inviting civic engagement. A multitude of studies link civic engagement to reduced incidence of substance abuse. Research studies show that when young people are provided safe, structured, supervised and healthy activities in which to participate, they are less likely to become involved in high-risk, unhealthy behaviors. (National Youth Development Information Center, Hall, Yohalem, Tolman, & Wilson, 2003, Honig et al., 2001)
Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement studies show definitively that students who participate in open discussions and who learn to communicate their opinions through debate are much more active than those who don't have these experiences. (civicyouth.org) Perspectives is designed to provide open community forums for people of all ages to discuss a topic all too often unmentioned until tragedy strikes. These discussions will offer an established means for eliciting civic engagement.

Mentoring, too, can be very effective in engaging people in civic activities. "The very presence of a mentor in a youth's life can help to reduce isolation and provide needed supervision and support. The tutoring and support a mentor offers may open an opportunity for academic and future career success that is not otherwise available." (Juvenile Mentoring Program 1998 Report to Congress-Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.) Perspectives provides an opportunity for young people and adults to learn new skills and gain a sense of personal empowerment through the trainings offered in radio program production.

The project offers both library and radio station new ways to fulfill their missions by collaborating in a public education program that includes volunteer training. The program will benefit the communities in a variety of ways, including providing a trained pool of potential radio program volunteers, filling a need for KHNS. Based on a shared sense of need and past interactions, this collaboration aspires to empower partners to contribute to the community in innovative and far-reaching ways. The program planning process has involved meetings with partners and collaborators to identify the community needs, develop activities to meet the needs, identify budgetary items (including personnel, equipment, materials and supplies), discuss in-kind donations, define resources different organizations bring to the project, create a timeline, determine logistics for dissemination of radio diaries, and means for program publicity. (Program Planning Process Report attached) Through this planning process, groundwork has been laid to build a strong network of community organizations to collaborate on public education.

By combining library and radio resources, this project will reach out to members of local and other Alaskan communities in ways that neither organization could independently. It is anticipated that this expanded audience will help attract new patrons and listeners. The sensitive nature of the substance abuse topic will also help both library and radio station solidify each organization's role as a neutral ground for community discussion and consideration of difficult issues. Perspectives also offers both partners, as well as other collaborating organizations, the opportunity to encourage civic engagement by modeling it, giving an example to emulate. Several studies provide compelling examples of how researchers promote civic engagement by modeling it themselves. (http://familystudies.biosestate.edu/civicengpromotion.html)

As well as positive impacts on radio audiences, program participants and collaborating organizations in the communities involved, Perspectives may help to correct the imbalance at the state level between efforts to deal with the effects of substance abuse as opposed to proactive efforts to educate about its impacts. According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse 2001 report on the impact of substance abuse on state budgets, Alaska's per capita burden of substance abuse on state programs was $505, the second highest in the nation and nearly double the national average of $287. Yet its per capita spending for substance abuse prevention, treatment and research was only $26.51. SHOVELING UP: THE IMPACT OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE ON STATE BUDGETS (January 29, 2001 - Joseph A. Califano, Jr.)

2. Intended results and community impact
In 2001, through a partnership with the Chilkoot Indian Association, the library developed and organized the "Dragonfly Project: A Technology Awareness Program" with funding from an IMLS Native American Enhancement Grant. This project benefits Native and other patrons by giving them the skills to search, find, and retrieve information from a variety of sources using appropriate technology. We have purchased and installed new computers, scanner, network printer, a wireless network and provided training. The successful program won national and state awards (ALA's Marshall Cavendish Award for Excellence in Library Programming, PLA's EBSCO Award for Excellence in Small/Rural Library Service, and AK Spirit of Youth). In 2003 it was expanded to include instruction on the use of digital cameras, the development of story boards, and the actual filming of several short Native related documentaries. "Dragonfly Project Phase II - Digital Media and Film Making" program was funded by IMLS and Alaska State Library Interlibrary Cooperation grants. Youth were trained in the making of films including two based on the carving of a traditional Tlingit canoe as part of a wellness project to combat substance abuse. (http://www.haineslibrary.org/df.html) The proposed new Perspectives project builds on these past efforts using many of the same proven successful methodologies.

The specific results Perspectives is designed to achieve are both tangible and intangible. Tangible results include curriculum materials and outcome based evaluation tools and results, digital audio versions of locally recorded and produced audio diaries, presentations and documentaries available at the library and via FTP and Internet from KHNS, and increased library collection resources related to drug and alcohol use.

The intangible results include increased capacity within the community: computer and digital audio production skills; improved communication skills; and the development of critical thinking skills to make educated choices. The collaboration will foster communication, cooperation, respect, and resource-sharing among organizations. There will be an enhanced public awareness of the impacts of drug and alcohol abuse. Solutions for healing from the effects of substance abuse will be offered, and a strengthening of community organization networks will occur. We also hope to improve both how partners use their resources to serve the public and how the community perceives the partner organizations. The combination of positive public perception of these partners and the active model they provide as engaged community entities may enhance public civic engagement, possibly resulting in increased volunteerism at the radio station or at the library.

The non-partisan nature of libraries and public radio stations offers the opportunity for cooperative planning with a variety of groups to define and meet the needs of specific populations. The proposed program will demonstrate how libraries and public radio can serve their communities. It will offer a model for other communities to follow. Using a library/radio partnership to provide "safe" places for discussion of public issues and values in an atmosphere of tolerance for diversity of opinion is a transferable concept.

The new program will be highly effective in advancing the library's mission of being responsive to community needs by supporting educational, civic and cultural activities and providing programs and services to meet those needs. Perspectives events in the library may attract attendees who then become new library patrons. With the technical assistance of staff at the radio station, as well as the strong ties that KHNS has built to other rural radio stations in the state, the library's educational staff will be able to create a product that will be aired not only locally but throughout the state. This project will also build the role of the radio station as a venue for local debate of serious issues. By increasing the pool of potential volunteers with audio production skills and experience, the project will help the station realize its goals of developing and utilizing a broad, active base of volunteers.

We have defined six measurable performance goals which address enhanced learning opportunities, improved technology literacy, public awareness of substance abuse - an identified community need, increased organizational capacity, relationship building among collaborators, and product dissemination. (Please see Project Design.) An outcome based evaluation (OBE) plan has been developed to measure target audience impacts, outcomes related to project products, and effects on partners and collaborators. Evaluation tools to collect reliable information include questionnaires, interviews, surveys, statistics, analysis, and outcome based comparative charts. Partner staff will work with collaborators to develop these tools and will implement the evaluation process as outlined in Project Design Goal VI. (Page 6) Library staff was involved in the IMLS funded "How Libraries and Librarians Help" project. Our Dragonfly Project OBE was published in J Durrance & K. Fisher's book with the same title.(See attachment & OBE questionnaires.)

3. Project Design: October 2005 through September 2007
The overall project goal is to create an innovative model program based on collaborations, resource sharing and synthesis of specialized organizational skills, including information dissemination, radio broadcast, and technology training, that can be adapted and implemented in other rural communities to enhance learning opportunities and encourage civic engagement.

Planning: Project planning will continue to be a cooperative effort between the two partners' staff and collaborating agencies. (See attached letters of support.) Twelve presentations will be developed to address topics relevant to the project theme. Speakers and topics will be selected for their ability to stimulate thought, questions, discussion and appreciation of divergent points of view. Expertise and resources will be dedicated to activities related to each organization's mission.
* Programs: Perspectives will begin with a forum involving organizations that help people deal with the effects of substance abuse, followed by six programs per year on related topics by speakers from within and outside Haines identified by project collaborators. Presentations will be recorded and produced for broadcast on KHNS and shared with partner radio stations via satellite and Internet. Designed to spur discussion, programs will increase awareness of the impacts of substance abuse.
* Public Education- Digital Audio Production: The Education Coordinator will develop workshop curriculum to teach the public digital audio production skills including gathering, importing, editing, processing and exporting sound. The use of microphones and different techniques for gathering high quality sound from different environments; the use of recording devices; transferring sound from recording device to computer; editing sound using multi-tracking, noise reduction, compression and other audio improvement techniques; exporting sound to an .wav master file and an .mp3 file for distribution will also be covered.
* Audio Diaries: An Audio Diary curriculum will focus on teaching small groups the skills of storytelling through digital audio production including natural sounds, narration, music, and audio effects. Working individually with the Education Coordinator, six volunteers each year will produce a five to eight minute audio diary for broadcast on their experiences of the impacts of alcohol and drug abuse. Using project equipment, volunteers will do field work to gather sounds that can be combined to tell their stories. Staff will monitor progress, offering assistance and guidance.
* Post-production: After working with the audio diary volunteers for up to six months, staff will assist in editing the sounds. Volunteers will learn digital audio multi-track editing techniques and use those skills in production of audio diaries. Participants will share heartfelt, personal experiences providing authentic content. KHNS and library staff will assist volunteers to finalize their audio diaries for broadcast, and assist them to combine four to six of the stories to create a 30-minute documentary for statewide distribution each year. Programs will include an introduction to Perspectives, recognize project funders and communicate how substance abuse affects small communities.
* Export: Project staff will make each produced story available to broadcasters in Alaska and the world via FTP and satellite. Staff will teach program participants how to compress audio samples in MP3 format and post them on the Internet, specifically on partner's websites (www.khns.org, www.haineslibrary.org.) KHNS will also host the MP3 stories on their FTP server for distribution. Participants will transfer their stories to CD format for distribution and for the library's collection.
* Evaluation and Dissemination: Program events will be actively publicized through a variety of media. Information will be collected to measure project outcomes and community impacts on participants, audiences and collaborating organizations. Project materials and outcomes including staff's assessment of what worked best and which aspects of the program need revision will be shared with other communities. As is always done in the library's collaborations, in the course of dissemination of program results, partners will be credited equally for positive outcomes.

I. Goal: To use the library, in partnership with KHNS, as a vehicle to bring an educational program series to Haines to meet documented community need for information on the impacts of drug and alcohol abuse. To encourage discussion of values, sense of self, sense of community and solutions for healing from substance abuse in an atmosphere of tolerance for diversity of opinion.
A. Objective: Using local organizations' expertise and guidance, develop program series.
1. Meet with collaborators to identify twelve topics focusing on impacts of drug and alcohol abuse.
2. Collaborators develop list of knowledgeable speakers from both outside and inside the community.
3. Invite speakers to help plan, present, lead discussion, suggest readings, and evaluate program.
4. Develop schedule for programs.
5. Library staff organizes presentations and recording of presentations.
6. KHNS staff and volunteers edit and air presentations.
7. KHNS staff makes presentations available by FTP to other radio stations.

B. Objective: Work with local professional staff and presenters through creative collaboration to build the library's collection of materials related to drug and alcohol issues.
1. Develop a list of recommended materials to meet needs of collaborators' clients and library patrons.
2. Library staff reviews requests and develops purchase order.
3. Staff and volunteers transfer audio journals, presentations and documentaries to CDs.
4. Library staff catalogs new materials including locally created CDs.
5. Dragonfly mentors develop bookmarks listing new resources; these are shared with collaborators.

II. Goal: Expand the Dragonfly Project to include digital audio production skills.
A. Objective: Improve self-concept and sense of capability of program participants and promote community healing from the impacts of drug and alcohol abuse.
1. Provide training to improve computer skills.
2. Provide training on digital audio production skills.
3. Provide training to improve communication skills.
4. Provide training to improve interpersonal skills.

B. Objective: Add staff time to develop audio diary training curricula and Perspectives program.
1. Refine job description for the Education and Technology Coordinators.
2. Review job description for Project Coordinator.
3. Advertise for and hire a Project Coordinator. (Partner staff participate in selection process.)

C. Objective: To develop radio skills training program.
1. Purchase audio recording equipment, editing software, blank audio storage media and CDs.
2. Develop curriculum for use with participants and post on website..
3. Offer training sessions for the general public.
4. Recruit and train 12 volunteers to create audio diaries on the impacts of drug and alcohol abuse.

D. Objective: Revise Dragonfly Project information program to include expanded services.
1. Develop flyers, brochures, public service announcements and ads.
2. Develop waiver/release form for audio journal participants. Develop information for outreach.

E. Objective: Support participants' civic engagement in the community.
1. Encourage continued community service as radio and library volunteers.

III. Goal: To expand KHNS' role in meeting community needs by developing programming on a topic of deep community concern and by reaching new and underserved audiences.
A. Objective: Increase KHNS' capacity to serve as an effective educational resource for rural Alaska.
1. Broadcast, in Haines, Klukwan and Skagway, audio diaries sharing personal experiences regarding the impacts of substance abuse on community member's lives.
2. Record, edit, and air presentations and forums.
3. Set up interviews with visiting speakers for local public radio broadcast
4. Develop call-in radio forum(s) concerning drug and alcohol abuse.
5. Share recorded materials via FTP and Internet with Community Radio Alaska stations and others.

IV. Goal: Build organizations' capacity to fulfill their missions by participating in Perspectives.
A. Objective: To strengthen community networks and to build relationships among organizations while increasing public awareness of the impacts of drug and alcohol abuse.
1. Share information about community needs among collaborators.
2. Offer venues for organizations' expert staff to educate and inform the public.
3. Disseminate program information to organizations' clients, radio audiences, and others.
4. Encourage local organizations to inform their members of project programs.

V: Goal: To actively publicize Perspectives and disseminate program products and results.
A. Objective: Produce effective publicity communications in a variety of formats.
1. Develop and distribute program brochure detailing the presentation topics, speakers and schedule.
2. Create and distribute flyers for each program.
3. Broadcast public service and community calendar announcements for project events.
4. Advertise project events and encourage coverage of presentations and interviews with speakers.
5. Design a project web page to disseminate program information, curriculum, suggested readings and link to educational websites related to the topic of substance abuse.
6. Assemble displays at the library relevant to series programs.
7. Coordinate with the schools to ensure that youth have access to appropriate programs.
8. Write articles for media, library/radio newsletters and professional journals describing the program.

B. Objective: Develop methods for efficient and widespread dissemination of project information.
1. Use website to share Perspectives program informational materials with other communities. Establish links to brochures, flyers, curriculum, and radio journals.
2. Create a PowerPoint presentation covering project goals, needs, activities, partners/collaborators, publicity, benefits/outcomes and recognizing funders to share at conferences and via the web.
3. Share evaluation tools and outcomes with other communities including the project staff's assessment of what worked best and which aspects of the program need revision.

VI. Goal: To evaluate the Perspectives series to learn what the community found most effective and what components or aspects of the program could be improved.
A. Objective: Collect reliable information to measure project outcomes and community impacts.
1. Distribute questionnaires to audience participants following each presentation.
2. Assess each symposium and recommend changes or improvements (Library Director, Project Director, KHNS Director, and Presenter).
3. Maintain statistics on the number of project presentations and attendees.
4. Keep records of the number of project related radio programs and radio journals aired on KHNS and Community Radio Alaska member stations.
5. Record circulation statistics for related materials.
6. Ask collaborators to track increased use of social services for assistance with drug and alcohol abuse.
7. Compile exit survey data from presentation attendees for outcome based evaluation.
8. Develop interviews, compile data and develop chart to assess success of project.

B. Objective: Assess success in building relationships between community collaborators.
1. Develop survey to ascertain each collaborator's sense of project effect on their organization.
2. Develop chart of project outcomes.

4. Project Resources - Management Plan, Personnel and Budget
Management for this project involves cooperation between the Library Director, Education, Technology and Project Coordinators and KHNS' Station Manager and Program Director. Oversight will be shared. Primary responsibility will lie with library staff in cooperation with KHNS. Each partner will be responsible for contributing resources and skills. Maintaining a working relationship, partners will continue to develop a holistic approach to addressing community needs which can be carried into other projects. Collaborators include the Haines Borough School District, Lynn Canal Counseling, Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, Haines FASD Community Education Project and the Haines Police Department.

Personnel: The library staff involved in this project have both experience and expertise in organizing and implementing programs of this scope. Their past history on the Dragonfly Project and several humanities programs has allowed them to evaluate their practices and methods, adapting them where necessary to assure the success of the project. KHNS staff bring long-term and diverse experience of radio production and broadcasting, teaching expertise and volunteer training. Both groups have worked cooperatively in partnerships and look forward to the opportunity this grant will provide. (See attached resumes.)

The Library Director will act as Project Director, supervising personnel, selecting and ordering materials, communicating with KHNS staff and collaborators, working with project staff on development of program activities, maintaining financial records with monthly reports, grant reporting and working as a team member. The Education Coordinator will be responsible for recruiting audio diary volunteers, preparing all training materials, organizing training programs and one-on-one tutoring sessions. She will work with the Project Director and Project Coordinator to maintain statistics, write press releases, and prepare publicity and program materials. She will also bring her experience with Outcome Based Evaluations to the project, working with other staff and collaborators to develop appropriate tools for the evaluation process. The Technology Coordinator is responsible for maintaining the library's hardware and software. He will train the Education Coordinator in audio recording skills and will assist with training sessions. A Project Coordinator (job description attached) will be hired by the Library Board, Director and staff with involvement by KHNS staff, to organize presentations, synthesize monthly grant activity logs, work with KHNS staff to assure that each presentation is recorded and edited for broadcast, maintain statistics, write press releases, prepare publicity and program materials and assist in gathering and analyzing OBE data. Each of the coordinators will spend time at KHNS studios editing and preparing materials for broadcast, assisting with call-in forums and other related radio station tasks.

KHNS' Station Manager will supervise radio personnel, communicate with local organizations and library project staff to develop broadcast quality materials, and disseminate programs to other stations. KHNS' Program Director will work closely with coordinators to schedule studio time, assist with recording presentations, post production work, maintain log of all project broadcast activities, meet with collaborators and the project team, and coordinate program participants who decide to become KHNS volunteers.

* The library will handle all financial expenditures for this grant.
* Financial reports will be generated monthly.
* The Library Board, Director and staff will review applications, interview and hire. The KHNS Station Manager and Program Director's involvement will be invited.
* The Library Director will supervise, schedule and evaluate all library project staff. The Station Manager will supervise, schedule and evaluate all radio station project staff.
* The Coordinators will maintain a monthly log of the major grant activities so progress can be reviewed.
* The Program Director will maintain a log of all project broadcast activities.
* Regular project planning meetings will be scheduled with partners and collaborators to discuss opportunities, plan and schedule specific activities, and evaluate project success.
* Oversight meetings will be scheduled with KHNS and library staff. Training materials, activity log, financial reports, program progress, publicity and events will be reviewed. Needed revisions will be made.
* Required grant reports will be drafted by the Library Director and staff, and forwarded to KHNS for review, revision and submission.

The budget for this two-year project reflects a combination of funds, in-kind services and cost sharing. As well as contributions from both partners, funds from the Friends of the Library, the Public Library Association's Baker & Taylor Audio/Video Award, and an Alaska Public Library Assistance Grant are included to make up the 36% match for this application. (See attached documents.) Although the library is providing a greater in-kind donation, KHNS' in-kind donation of studio and equipment use, of editing, and post production work is essential to the success of this project. Their ability to broadcast and share the audio diaries and presentations is critical to reaching a broader audience, taking the project into the homes of Haines and other Alaskan communities. The involvement of both partners is of vital importance to achieve the anticipated outcomes and benefits.

The library has historically provided leadership in community partnership ventures. We oversaw the formation of SEAKnet (Southeast Alaska Network) that brought Internet to Haines through a National Telecommunications and Information Administration grant awarded to the Alaska State Library, University of Fairbanks, and rural southeast Alaska communities. From its inception, SEAKnet was a cooperative project. The library took the lead locally, linking with Klukwan and Haines school districts, local government, chamber of commerce, visitor bureau, telephone company and individuals to form a public/private partnership. This resulted in local Internet service in Haines before commercial providers were willing to serve this small, rural community. For its part in initiating SEAKnet, the library received an AOL Rural Telecommunications Leadership Finalist Award.

Administrators and staff of the public library, elementary media center, high school library and museum archives developed a cooperative plan to improve Haines' access to library materials. A shared online public access catalog and an automated circulation system were developed, and a Wide Area Network established to facilitate resource sharing. The library provides equipment and maintains these systems with Alaska State Library Interlibrary Cooperation Grants to improve shared services. Goals are reviewed and revised yearly.

The library has effectively implemented numerous grant projects with different partners. KHNS and the library partnered to promote audio CDs the library receives with the Public Library Association's Baker & Taylor Audio/Video award. Both KHNS and library staff have experience with cooperative grant projects, maintaining budgets and grant reporting. Yearly library audits assure proper financial management.

5. Dissemination
A plan has been developed to actively publicize Perspectives programs and events within the target communities. (Please see Project Design Goal V, page 6.) Project materials, products and results will be made available to interested organizations and individuals outside the community using a variety of communication methods. The overall program goal to create a replicable model project indicates the partners' strong intent to share curriculum, methodologies and the results of project evaluations with others. All Perspectives forums and presentations will be open to the public. In addition to radio broadcasts of the audio diaries and presentations on KHNS and Community Radio Alaska stations, both partners' websites will include links to these productions and the project will have its own web page accessible to any Internet user worldwide. Articles about the project will be submitted to local media, and library and radio newsletters and professional journals.