To raise awareness and mobilize the entire community to prevent the abuse of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, with a primary focus on our youth.

Community Service Clubs

Youth activities: the student athlete project (sap) focuses on reducing substance use amongst high school athletes. By specifically working with high school student athletes, we are able to reach over 70% of our targeted youth population. Similar to our yab model (described below), the student athlete focus is a youth-driven effort which strives to create leaders on our athletic teams who make positive choices. This is a year-long,on and off-season effort which includes a strong partnership with school administrators, coaches, parents, and healthcare working together to inform student athletes on the risk of alcohol/other drugs,increase awareness of abuse and provide resources to those student athletes who may need help. community relations - parent focused prevention campaigns - key messages are strategically executed throughout the year for maximum impact, such as "national family day," a time designated to promote family dinners and family time together as an effective way to reduce substance abuse among children and teens; and "parents who host" (pwh). Middle school transitions program - primarily held in may and june, the coalition completed the middle school transition programs at 12 middle schools in birmingham and bloomfield hills reaching over 600 8th graders. The programs focused on presenting, through an interactive "clicker" presentation, the teen drug and alcohol use survey data and youth action board (yab) - the organizations yab is a key partner in developing and executing coalition messages, programs, activities, and events. Yab is a diverse, inclusive group of high school students who volunteer their time and talents, meeting on a regular basis to plan,organize and promote substance-free events and community opportunities that highlight the positive choices most teens are making today. Their goal is to put youth in the forefront of the issue, giving them a postive voice and presence in their community. With more than 25 active members from eleven public and private high schools in birmingham and bloomfield hills, yab meets 2-3 times per month. Meetings focus on students connecting, recruiting, dialoging about substance use and other teen issues and trends, leadership, advocacy for prevention,community involvement, and planning and hosting substance-free activities. Youth action board projects successfully planned and promoted this year included: three large-scale band jams;and continued bi-monthly meetings where students do most of their networking, planning, dialoguing and message development. In addition, a youth-led dialogue day called "choices" is driven, planned and put on by youth for youth. The yab selects meaningful and relevant speakers with personal testimonials on their experiences and recovery from drug and alcohol use. The participants then break out in groups where they can talk openly and safely on the issue of teen use and abuse of alcohol and drugs. The dialogue has proven to be the most valued part of this event. Once again, this year the choices youth-led dialogue day held live court with the 48th district court, and the docket included alcohol and drug related offenses. All matters were pending court cases and were resolved in this session. Following the court session and follow-up speakers, an insightful discussion about the consequences of their actions took place along with steps to prevent this situation from happening in our community. Youth leadership - this year, four yab students were honored for their work and service for the coalition by birmingham youth assistance and 4 yab students completed the national youth leadership institute training program in february, taking their advanced track which included student teach-back, assessment and logic model development. Yab students will continue to work their evidenced-based plan, develop effective and targeted preventions that they will continue to work on in the upcoming fiscal year. Truths about alcohol and drug use in our