The Prevention WINS coalition's first general meeting with DFC funds was held yesterday at Seattle Children's Hospital.After some networking, six people who work in northeast Seattle schools and in the community talked about what they see going on in terms of youth substance abuse. One comment that kept being made was that many youth, from middle school through high school, have expressed that they think marijuana is medicine (some seem to think it cures cancer) and is not harmful.
After hearing about youth substance abuse-related problems in northeast Seattle, coalition members signed up for workgroups. They are:
Social Norms/Parenting Workgroup: to develop and implement a parent education and social norms marketing campaign focusing on families.
Reward & Reminder/Retail Outreach Workgroup: to reduce the sales of alcohol to minors.
Advocacy Workgroup: to work with community leaders and decision makers to promote the consistent enforcement of youth-related drug and alcohol laws and policies.
Youth Engagement Committee: to increase youth participation in substance abuse prevention activities.
Community Relations Committee: to communicate with the community and media about coalition activities, prevention strategies, and other topics related to youth substance abuse.
Evaluation Committee: to collect and analyze local data related to youth substance abuse and evaluate coalition activities.
For more information about the coalition, workgroups and committees, please contact the coalition coordinator.
