Alaska Methamphetamine Education Project Evaluation

The Alaska Meth Education Project is the result of the efforts of five local Alaska governments — the Municipality of Anchorage, Matanuska Susitna Borough, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Fairbanks North Star Borough, and Juneau Borough — and has been operating since 2006. As a statewide effort, the mission of the AME Project is to reduce meth use and availability in Alaska by educating Alaskans about, and preventing youth from trying, meth. The AME Project provides free community education presentations using Partnership For Drug Free America’s Meth 360 Program, which addresses all aspects of meth use including identification of meth, modes of production, and the effects of meth on individuals and communities. AME's anti-meth media campaign involves radio and print ads that focus on both anti-drug attitudes and recovery to reduce rates of use and to appeal to families and current meth users. In addition, the AME Project has held two anti-meth summits, and hosts a website and Facebook page which provide information, local resources, and links to their campaign ads.

At the request of the Alaska Methamphetamine Project (AME), the Justice Center at University of Alaska Anchorage will conduct a process and outcome evaluation of the AME Project. The process evaluation will involve a survey of AME Advisory Committee members and select representatives from involved agencies. The outcome evaluation requires an evaluation of community training events as well as an evaluation of a radio media campaign. The evaluation of community education events will involve surveys administered at the educational events. The evaluation of the radio media campaign will involve surveys of individuals randomly selected from the five areas: Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Kenai and Mat-Su Valley. The evaluation of the radio media campaign will also include focus group interviews with participants for whom the radio commercial will be played.