Images
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Off Campus Cookout
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Off Campus Picnics, Fall 2009
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Off Campus Picnics, Fall 2009
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Off Campus Picnics, Fall 2009
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Off Campus Picnics, Fall 2009
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Off Campus Picnics, Fall 2009
Healthy Off Campus
Since the late 1990s, The Ohio State University (OSU) has been committed to reducing high-risk drinking rates among all students through a comprehensive prevention plan based on the environmental management approach. Beginning in 2002, as part of this extensive plan, OSU began a program called community ambassadors (CAs). This nationally-recognized off campus student initiative supported by off-campus student services and financed through property owners, businesses and community groups promotes a safer, more collaborative community in the off-campus area with students serving as resources for other students, property owners and the university.
Community Ambassadors foster peer-to-peer relationships among students in the OSU off-campus area. They are a resource and point of contact for students living on their street and, as a group, plan and complete projects and activities throughout the year. To date, students indicate that having a community ambassador on their street fosters a stronger and safer community where neighbors watch out for each other. Healthy Off Campus funded by the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services (ODADAS) and OSU student wellness, entails expanding upon the current successful, community-building initiative by adding a peer education component where Community Ambassadors will educate other students about accurate social norms, policies and laws, entertainment options, and risky alcohol behaviors.
The goals of Healthy Off Campus include: increase in alcohol related knowledge; increase in accuracy of the perception of drinking prevalence among off campus students by 10%; and a decrease in alcohol use by off campus students by 5%.