ABSTRACT
Of all the policy efforts that I have worked on, the one that resulted in the most policy changes was a community coalition-building initiative known as Wisconsin Youth Futures. Beginning in the fall of 1990,1 worked with county Cooperative Extension Service faculty and staff to form coalitions of parents, educators, community leaders, and youth in 22 Wisconsin communities interested in building more supportive environments for youth. In the 7 years that I directed this project, these community coalitions changed more than 30 local policies, including tightening the penalties for selling alcohol to minors, removing alcohol sales from Little League games, delivering parent education programs, developing parent networks, and establishing a parent-school association.
