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Strategy
5: Community Based Process
Definition:
This strategy enhances the ability of the community to effectively plan and implement prevention services for ATOD problems. This strategy also provides the platform where environmental change strategies are planned and developed. Activities in this strategy include organizing, planning, and enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of campaigns implemented, inter-agency collaboration, coalition building, and networking.
As the School Site Prevention
Coordinator you should participate in and support the community based
process. In order to do this, you will need to begin by
finding out who coordinates prevention activities at the community
level and then attend
their meetings.
If an effective process is not taking place in your
community, consider organizing and hosting the first meeting yourself.
Contact each school in your community and invite all
of the other School Site Prevention Coordinators to attend (usually a parent, teacher or
student). This will provide an opportunity for you to share ideas and resources! The
meeting can be as simple as a round table discussion.
Next, ask to have a representative from your police
department, school district, and your city’s community services department attend the
meeting. Let them know what your needs are and what you hope to achieve. Allow them to
share their ideas, needs and desired outcomes too. Remember, partnerships must even allow
for differences of opinion.
You should support community events sponsored
by prevention agencies and groups. Remember, as your school’s Prevention Coordinator, you
are the link between the host of these events and your students. When you support their work by
disseminating information about their programs your students benefit from their
services and activities!
If this is the first year that your
community is organizing activities, your achievements may be limited.
THAT IS OKAY! Remember prevention is a process - not an event!
Plan
(or Participate in) Community Based Prevention Efforts
We have listed some ways that you
may be able to include Community Based Prevention Strategies in
your Red Ribbon Campaign
- Attend your local Board of Education and/or City Council meeting
prior to Red Ribbon Week. Bring Red Ribbons, wristbands, and other
red items
(wreaths, paper pins, etc. from the packet would be good) to them, along with the Kiki
Camarena Story and a copy of your school's Red Ribbon agenda. Thank them for supporting prevention!
- Share your ideas on our website! We are collaborating with each other
via the world wide web - and your ideas may help someone else!
- Participate in Pennies for Prevention. The money you raise will
benefit your school and the community! (See the information below.)
- Join your community's anti-drug coalition. These groups welcome parent, teacher and youth involvement.
You will get to learn about all of the great prevention going on and
meet/know some pretty incredible people!
- Get involved with community centers providing safe, adult supervised,
places where youth can gather and find social and educational support, positive
activities, athletic programs, mentoring, and more.
When your community works together, you can develop programs and
activities that serve every student and family where you live.
Developing
A Community Based Funding Source
While many prevention
activities you can develop cost little, if any money having a
budget is certainly nice. The way that we have addressed
this issue in our community was through our annual Pennies
for Prevention Campaign. We have hosted
Pennies for Prevention in Irvine for 12 years. Pennies for
Prevention supports both school and
community based prevention programs, activities and events.
Here's what we do:
During Red Ribbon Week, schools collect pennies.
On the last day of the week, everyone brings their
pennies to a central "drop off site" where the pennies are weighed and tallied.
Participating schools earn $1.00 per pound of
pennies - or 2/3 of the funds they raise - to support their individual school’s year
long prevention efforts.
The other 1/3 supports our community based
prevention efforts, like this website, our local training workshops,
community events and more.
Schools from all over Orange County join our
Pennies for Prevention Campaign. Each year, we collect over
$40,000 to support our local prevention efforts!
Note: Pennies for Prevention
Campaign information is included with the copy and use resource
materials you will receive
when you Register on our website.
Next:
Strategy 6: Environmental Prevention |
