December 2022-January 2023 Coalition Newsletter

Joining School, Family, and Community in a partnership to promote healthy, resilient, and drug free youth and to prevent youth suicide.

Coalition Survey of Chippewa Valley Schools’ Middle and High School Parents

The Coalition has conducted an online survey to gain the perspectives of district middle and high school parents about youth use of alcohol, marijuana and vape products, as well as related issues. Over 1,200 parents responded. Survey results are currently  being analyzed and will be considered in planning future programming for students, parents, and staff.

The survey data will be presented at the March 14th virtual Coalition Meeting.

GMAD was a Success!

The Coalition sponsored Girls Making Awesome Decisions, an empowerment program for girls in grades 4-8,   last Friday, 1/27/23, at the Dakota 9th Grade Center. Registration included 104 girls and 98 parents. Despite the weather, almost all registrants attended. The girls’ program consisted of a Cool Careers Panel of successful women from different professions and workshops that included managing anxiety and social media safety. The program for parents involved a panel of teens sharing their perspectives and a presentation, Empowering Our Girls, by Joe Gulino, CARE of SE Michigan. Many thanks to our Chippewa Valley and Dakota Coalition Teen Council members that comprised the panel for parents and helped facilitate workshops, to our district Student Assistance staff, to CARE staff that attended and suppported the program, and to Dakota’s 9th Grade Center. Parent and student evaluations were outstanding!

Drug Prevention/Resiliency Building Program

SMART Moves, a 9 session drug prevention program for 5th graders sponsored by the Coalition, recently began at Cherokee, Erie, and Ottawa Elementary Schools. It provides age-appropriate information about the health and other effects of the use of alcohol, marijuana, vape products and other drugs, addiction, refusal skills, and the influence of media. The program is provided by Coalition partners –

Clinton Township Police, Henry Ford Community Health Education, and CARE of SE Michigan, as well as Chippewa Valley High Coalition Teen Council members.

Drug Prevention PSAs for Parents

Jim Calderone, District Cable Coordinator, and his staff are working with the Coalition to produce Public Service Announcements (30 second videos) to raise parental awareness that youth use of alcohol, marijuana, and vape products creates detrimental brain, academic, and other developmental effects.

This project is funded by a grant from Prevention Network.

Updated Life of an Athlete Chippewa Valley Schools Webpages

Grant monies from Prevention Network are also being used to fund an update of the webpages of the Life of an Athlete. This program is a collaborative effort of the Athletic Departments of Chippewa Valley Schools and the Coalition to inform district athletes and their parents about the negative performance effects of the use of alcohol, marijuana, and vape products and the misuse of opioid medications.

The importance of sleep, nutrition, training, and motivation are also emphasized.

Please support the work of the Coalition! Click the Donate button to access the donation page.