Alcohol Research Initiative
This research initiative seeks to quantify environmental risk factors that contribute to excessive alcohol consumption and the community problems that follow from harmful drinking. Researchers and students working on this initiative are building statewide and community alcohol data infrastructure, conducting spatial, temporal, and computational analyses to identify the causes and consequences of harmful alcohol use (e.g. binge drinking, driving while intoxicated, chronic and heavy drinking) on individuals, families, and communities. We are especially attuned to supply-side and environmental factors such as alcohol sales, retailer densities, enforcement mechanisms, licensing policy, and how these factors affect the well-being of communities and families. We also seek to understand the social and demographic forces that shape alcohol consumption, as well as the community and neighborhood attributes that predict high consumption and associated harms (e.g., OWI, domestic violence). As part of this effort, we partner with communities and local coalitions to design data-driven strategies aimed at improving health and safety through the reduction of excessive alcohol consumption. Currently, we are investigating the effect of historical neighborhood disinvestment on alcohol outlet density.
Funded by the Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD), National Alcohol Beverage Control Association (NABCA), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the US Department of Agriculture, Cerro Gordo County Public Health, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Association (SAMHSA).
This project is a long-term partnership with the Iowa HHS Substance Use Bureau to advance recovery in Iowa. Recovery from harmful alcohol and substance use is a personal journey, often involving the support of friends, family, and community. Critical for many is access to the right resources, including mental health services, connection to faith communities and peer support meetings, and a stable job and reliable transportation. The Substance Use Bureau strives to better address the unmet needs of individuals and families receiving treatment for substance use, but lacks the ongoing resources and community support essential for long-term recovery. Our research team has interviewed national recovery community center leaders, conducted a systematic, statewide inventory of existing recovery resources, and spent time with people at various stages of recovery to understand their stories, experiences, and 
recovery needs. From these and other data-informed activities, we created recovery-iowa.org, a place where people in recovery can find resources, including local meetings, tips to support their recovery journey, recovery videos, and stories of recovery, for example. We also developed customized recovery community reports for nearly 300 Iowa communities. Our current activities include the provision of technical support to Iowa's first cohort of recovery community centers, co-planning Iowa's first statewide recovery conference, maintenance and further development of the recovery-iowa website, creation of a family-focused recovery podcast, and expansion of recovery resources throughout the state.
Funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)