Positive Community Norms

Positive Community Norms cultivates cultural transformation by working on multiple community levels at once. This framework—which has been recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—has shown itself to be extremely effective in creating meaningful social change in the areas of health and safety issues including traffic safety, underage drinking, binge drinking, child maltreatment and many others.

Positive Community Norms is based on “the Science of the Positive,” the study of how positive factors impacts culture and experience. Positive Community Norms closes the gap between what we believe to be true and what is actually true. By talking about positive behaviors rather than emphasizing negative behavior and inadvertently making that seem common or even attractive, Positive Community Norms brings forward the message that the positive is the norm.

According to public data available via the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Positive Community Norms is making a real, positive impact in the rates of youth alcohol use.

Results In the first group of schools from July 2004 to June 2010 found that average 9th grade 30-day alcohol use fell during the grant period:

• 2004: 35.5 percent used alcohol in the previous 30 days

• 2010: 22 percent used alcohol in the previous 30 days

As well as after the grants were over:

• 2013: 14 percent used alcohol in the previous 30 days

In total,

• Between 2004 to 2013, 9th grade alcohol use in the previous 30 days went from 28.6 percent above the state average to 4.8 percent below average

For the second group of grantees, 2010 to 2016, the percentage of both middle school and high school students who had ever used alcohol went down significantly:

• 23 percent for high school students

• 50 percent for jr. high students

In addition,

• 2010: 25.9 percent of 9th graders used alcohol in the previous 30 days

• 2016: 17.2 percent of 9th graders used alcohol in the previous 30 days

• From 2010 to 2016, the average 9th grade 30-day alcohol use rate decreased 33.4 percent.

View the video below to hear more firsthand of the impact that Positive Community Norms has had in previous communities.