The Center For Youth And Community Development Inc

Programs: Center for youth & community service major accomplishments in two top areas of expense. Drug free communities the center for youth & community development manages collaborating for youth a drug free communities coalition. The coalition is made up of diverse community stakeholders who engage in activities that reduce or prevent the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. The coalition sponsors a number of media campaigns geared towards educating the general public about the affects of early substance use and a social norms campaign aimed at changing the perceptions that adults and youth may have about alcohol and other drug use. "parent's who host lose the most" a national campaign was implemented twice to educate the public about the penalties for providing minors with alcohol. "parents who host" materials and a principal's letter were sent home from schools prior to prom and graduation. Four "sticker shock" events were held during which youth and adults placed stickers on over 2500 cases and six packs of beer. The events covered by local media focus on the sticker message that stating that it is illegal to provide alcohol to anyone under 21. The parents who host campaign paired with the sticker shock event reached a total estimated audience of 35,000 residents. The "4d awareness month" (drunk, drugged, dangerous driving) was conducted during the months of december and january. Both of these campaigns were conducted countywide using billboards, local access cable television, radio and print and social media. Tie one on for safety was conducted over the holidays in partnership with adams county victim witness, madd, and other stakeholders. 50,000 people received information on substance abuse prevention through speaking engagements, social media and website visits. Collaborating for youth maintains a website and social media sites as a way of building community committed to a drug free lifestyle and as a way of educating the general public. A special project involved working with the adams county victim witness office to implement victim impact panels for dui offenders. Dui offenders attended a victim impact panel. On post testing 98% of offenders had increased their understanding of the impact of driving under the influence while 90% stated that they would never drive under the influence again. To limit access to medications that can be abused, two local "medicine take backs" were conducted in partnership with the dea and local law enforcement, at six sites around adams county. In september 2016 and april of 2017, adams county collected over 1000 pounds of medications from over 1000 residents. This turnout is directly attributable to the educational campaign done prior to each event. Each campaign included: 25 road signs; 150 posters; 25,000 leaflets at 13 pharmacies and 32 other public locations; 240 announcements on community cable station; 760 automated calls; 4 newspaper or print publications; 8 website postings; electronic and or flyer distribution to over 1000 venues including, 28 participating municipalities, 35 religious congregations, 75 doctor offices, and 7 senior centers. These campaigns focus on the need for safe disposal as a way to reduce youth substance abuse utilizing the message - "70% of people with pain medication addiction get the medications from unsuspecting family and friends". These take back event utilized more than 89 volunteers who contribute more than 300 hours. A total of 1,408 pounds of unused, unwanted and/or expired medications were collected for appropriate disposal. The medicine take back are augmented this year by eight permanent prescription drug boxes. Cfy works with the district attorney's office to distribute information regarding the need for ongoing disposal and the location of the boxes through print, web, radio and social media. In addition locking medication boxes were distributed to 26 households in which there was a risk of diversion of doctor prescribed narcotic medications. An essential philosophy of collaborating for youth is the involvement of youth in all of our activities. Therefore we recruited, selected, trained and supported youth to become effective advocates in the community, and among their peer group, for living above the influence of alcohol and other drugs. During this year approximately 57 youth participated in coalition activities.

healthy youth development the strengthening families program ran for five seven week sessions in the littlestown, gettysburg school districts and bermudian springs school district (east berlin). In addition three sessions of the program were held for spanish speaking families. Familias feurtes was held in conewago valley school district and at the vida charter school. The program served 69 parents in parent sessions, 78 youth in youth sessions and 147 participants in the family sessions. A meal, childcare and transportation assistance was also provided to families to remove barriers to attendance. 57 youth coalition members received training and support while participating in meetings and activities. 18 youth graduated from our week long leadership camp. Seven adult mentors worked with the coalition youth to support their activities. This year five school based youth coalitions met, in addition to the countywide youth coalition. Fifty-six students received support and training while working on drug and alcohol prevention related activities in their home schools. Positive messaging campaigns were conducted in five school district communities and on social media. The true that campaign reached 5000 students, 600 community members through events, 28,000 distinct listeners utilizing multiple radio spots, 11,000 through newspaper coverage, and 32,000 on social media sites.

new this year was the implementation of the evidence based positive action program k-8 grades in the 21st century afterschool program at six sites within the gettysburg area school district. Staff provided coaching, data management, reporting and evaluation to this project which served 268 children in an afterschool setting.