Coalition wants students to make healthy choices, live healthy lives
The Northern Dutchess Community Coalition (NDCC) has extended an invitation to middle and high school students to take an active role in local addiction prevention by joining its youth leadership committee. Pictured here are two high school seniors who participated in the Vaping is Exploding event held at the Red Hook Community Center in northeastern Dutchess County in March 2019, during which time the students kept Red Hook residents informed about the dangers of vaping. Photo submitted

Coalition wants students to make healthy choices, live healthy lives

HARLEM VALLEY — Local youth aspiring to make a worthwhile impact in their communities are being sought  after by the Northern Dutchess Community Coalition (NDCC), which is currently looking for students to take an active role in local addiction prevention by joining the coalition’s youth leadership committee.

Founded in 2009, the NDCC operates on a completely volunteer basis with a goal of creating healthy communities and providing youth with healthy coping and behavioral strategies, according to Crissy Groenewegen, a coalition coordinator at NDCC and a community prevention educator at the Council on Addiction Prevention and Education (CAPE) of Dutchess County. 

As published in an April NDCC press release, the coalition launched its work by raising awareness around issues like substance abuse and underage drinking. Today, it’s expanded its mission to “address the changing landscape,” which includes promoting positive mental health choices and educating local youth about things like vaping and marijuana use.

Working under the guidance of CAPE, the NDCC was awarded a five-year Federal Drug Free Communities grant in 2019, which made it possible for the coalition to expand its outreach in northern Dutchess County. For the Harlem Valley region, this includes the North East (Webutuck), Pine Plains and Millbrook Central School Districts.

Beyond generating community involvement across its 12 sectors, Groenewegen emphasized how important youth participation is. To date, she said the coalition is “about six months into year two” of its outreach  in the northern Dutchess area and doing what it can to engage youth through those initiatives, among which she organized a slogan contest last summer for students to promote the importance of wearing face masks at the height of the pandemic.

Groenewegen said a great part of the coalition’s work is learning from its members what their issues are, what they’d like to see in their own communities and how the NDCC can help them achieve their goals for living healthy lifestyles. 

As far as their engaging the youth leadership committee, she said it’s supposed to represent their communities, attend meetings and report back to their peers about the work that NDCC does.

The youth leadership committee is open to middle school and high school students ages 12 to 17. Currently the group is meeting remotely via Zoom on a monthly basis and hopes to return to in-person by September.  

Youth sector representatives are required to attend 80% of the meetings and use their strengths to support the coalition.

When asked how a typical meeting is structured, Groenewegen said a prevention calendar is used to motivate members to raise awareness around a specific issue. During Alcohol Awareness Month, she said the group planned events and advertising around raising awareness about the risks of alcohol abuse. Seeing the coalition’s familiarity with social media as an advantage, she said the youth representatives aim to spread NDCC campaigns over such platforms.

As far as an incentive for students to join the NDCC, Groenewegen remarked that, especially for high school juniors and seniors, it looks good on resumes. For middle schoolers, she said, “It’s to be a leader among your peers and to be invested in drug-free initiatives.”

Joslan Carter, a seventh-grader at Bulkeley Middle School in Rhinebeck, is the only student who has participated thus far. Joslan said the opportunity to make an impact on her community was what compelled her to join.

“I’ve always been into activism, spreading awareness and teaching other people,” Joslan stated. “Drug prevention and awareness are some of the most important things we can do to prevent early, and even adult, use, so I am excited that I can be a part of this ongoing process of education and interventions.”

“Actual data and facts show more youth are not using [drugs] than are,” Groenewegen added, “so if you can get five of those youth to be involved, to be interested in spreading the message, that can really start at any age.”

To learn more, go to www.ndutchesscc.org or the “Northern Dutchess Community Coalition” Facebook page. Students may also email cgroenewegen@capedc.org.

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