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The Illinois Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Other Drug and Violence Prevention (IHEC) is committed to helping Illinois institutions of higher education to provide more effective prevention programming. Their mission is:

To reduce negative health and safety consequences to Illinois college students related to alcohol, other drugs and violence and to increase college and community environmental factors that support healthy and safe norms.

IHEC evolved from the Illinois Statewide Initiative, which was established in 1992 when “Policies and Programs for the 1990’s: A Team Approach to the Prevention of Alcohol, Other Drug and Traffic Safety Problems in Higher Education” was implemented in Illinois through funding from the Illinois Department of Transportation, Division of Traffic Safety. This approach, developed jointly by the U.S. Departments of Education, Transportation, and Health and Human Services sought to decrease the health and traffic safety problems related to alcohol and other drug use and abuse on college campuses through the formation, training and technical support of campus-community action teams. Initial implementation of this project was limited to community colleges located south of Interstate 80 in Illinois, a traditionally underserved population in the state.

In 1994, the service area was expanded to include select four-year public and private institutions of higher education, and by 1995 the service area included all public and private colleges and universities throughout the state of Illinois. To date, the Illinois Higher Education Center has provided resources and services to nearly 100 colleges and universities in Illinois.

In 1998, additional funding was secured for this higher education prevention initiative from the Illinois Department of Human Services, Bureau of Substance Abuse Prevention. This funding provided the support necessary to begin a multi-tiered, state level strategic planning process to determine the needs of higher education in Illinois and to develop a prevention model to better serve those needs. Those involved in the planning process included college and university presidents, senior administrators, campus wellness and prevention staff, and state agency representatives. In addition, eight student focus groups were conducted throughout the state during the spring semester of 2001 to finalize the planning process. Those plans were formalized through the creation of the Illinois Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Other Drug and Violence Prevention (IHEC). The Center is housed in the Office of Safety Programs at Eastern Illinois University (Charleston, Illinois) and is funded through the Illinois Department of Transportation, Division of Traffic Safety, and the Illinois Department of Human Services, Bureau of Substance Abuse Prevention.

With tremendous support from these state agencies, IHEC is able to conduct an annual statewide conference on substance abuse and violence prevention issues, provide training opportunities for college health and student affairs personnel, author and distribute a monthly newsletter and numerous research briefs, host a website (www.illinoishec.org), and provide funding to colleges in the form of grants to do prevention programming.

In June 2006, IHEC decided to provide “Care Packages” to all institutions of higher education in Illinois. Since prevention budgets are tight for colleges, IHEC staff thought it would be a good idea to send some prevention goodies their way, to use at special events like Freshman Orientation or Alcohol Awareness Week. Included in these packages were pens, brochures, and phone cards displaying a drinking and driving prevention message. Nearly 15,000 phone cards were distributed to college students in the state of Illinois. The college contacts were very appreciative of the care packages, especially the phone cards. They liked the design and function of the cards so well, many asked for a bigger supply. This was a very successful project for IHEC and they may consider distributing more phone cards in the following years.

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