Here are a few of the basic facts about Common Ground:

•       Common Ground is a 5-year federally funded initiative.  It began in 2003 with a grant awarded to URI by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. 

•       Dr. Mark Wood, an Associate Professor of Psychology in URI’s Cancer Prevention Research Center, is the principal investigator for the evaluation component. 

•       Fran Cohen, URI’s Dean of Students, is the principal investigator for the administrative component. 

•       Common Ground uses an environmental approach to address alcohol use among college students. 

•       This means that the project does not focus on individual-level interventions for students who use alcohol. 

•       Instead, Common Ground focuses on the URI college population as a whole through the RhodeMap to Safety media campaign. 

•       See the above section on “Questions about RhodeMap to Safety” for more information.

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Common Ground, is a demonstration grant designed to:

•       Generate scientific knowledge about a collaborative, community-based approach to reducing negative consequences related to alcohol use among college students

•       Assess students’ attitudes toward issues surrounding alcohol use

•       Assess students’ awareness, perception, and knowledge of environmental strategies for reducing alcohol-related problems, such as responsible beverage service and increased enforcement efforts

•       Develop and evaluate an environmentally-focused model to address college alcohol use that can be adopted by other university communities

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What is the Narragansett-URI Coalition? What role does Common Ground have in the coalition?

• The Narragansett-URI Coalition, which was formed in 2000, consists of a group of volunteers whose mission is "to jointly work together to address problems and concerns by developing strategies and activities that foster amicable co-existence."

• Members represent Narragansett residents/homeowners and officials, property owners, realtors, neighborhood associations, tavern/package storeowners, local community organizations, university officials, and students.  
• The Common Ground project is involved in the Narragansett-URI Coalition to implement and promote environmental strategies to address college student drinking in the town of Narragansett.  This includes the Cooperating Tavern and Liquor Store Agreements for responsible beverage service as well as increasing the coalition members’ awareness of the RhodeMap to Safety campaign. 

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