Earlier this week I found myself immersed in the research and strategies for preventing high-risk drinking at colleges. Outside the Classroom asked me to film their Alcohol Prevention Coalition's second Annual Research Summit at Babson College. It's a gathering of top administrators, health educators, and student affairs directors who work to minimize binge drinking and its ramifications such as sexual assault, poor academic performance, and damaged town-gown relationships.
I am excited to be working with Outside the Classroom because I find them to be not only a top-notch research and strategy organization, but a great example of social entrepreneurship. They seem to be a for-profit business that operates with a non-profit mission. Their website says they aim to "Run Like a Business ~ Act Like a Nonprofit ~ Feel Like a Family ~ Care to Be Better."
Founder and CEO Brandon Busteed (pictured above) described the complexity of their approach to alcohol prevention, which brings together a diverse range of partners - deans, athletic directors, student affairs officers, health educators, student groups, faculty, and Greek organizations - and uses the Coalition's rich data on student attitudes and behavior to design policy.