We are truly sad to be at this point and will look forward to the future of our efforts, thank you everyone for you support over the years and through this transition. Please note we are still actively planning the After Prom Party on April 28th and the Elementary School Assets Writing Contest Awards Reception on April 19th at the Middle School.
SPA Blog
Category Archives: News
Youth One Book – Vote!
March 6, 2012 – 12:50 pm
Youth Ages 9-12 are invited to vote for the inaugural Youth One Book, One Denver at click here. Voting will take place February 27 – March 9th. The books have been narrowed down to three choices – No Talking, Holes, and Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry. During June 2012, youth will be encouraged to read the final book selected and participate in activities connected to the book through summer programming opportunities and city-wide activities. Book scholarships will be available for organizations that want to host book clubs during their summer programming at a later date.
Youth Partnership for Health Seeking Advisory Council
March 6, 2012 – 12:47 pm
MEMBERSHIP OUTREACH/RECRUITMENT
The Youth Partnership for Health (YPH) youth advisory council is excited to announce openings for 2012-2013!
Application Due: Monday, March 19th, 2012
We are seeking young people ages 13-19, with diverse life and/or geographic experiences, to participate as consultants on a statewide advisory council. This council is open for ANYONE and EVERYONE to apply. If you answer yes to any of these then this council is for you!
• Are you interested in standing up for the health and well-being of ALL young people in Colorado? APPLY
• Do you want to learn how to effectively get your voice heard? APPLY
• Are you a teen parent? APPLY
• Do you live far away from Denver? APPLY
• Have you had experiences with substance use, diversion or detention? APPLY
MEMBERSHIP OUTREACH/RECRUITMENT
The Youth Partnership for Health (YPH) youth advisory council is excited to announce openings for 2012-2013!
Application Due: Monday, March 19th, 2012
We are seeking young people ages 13-19, with diverse life and/or geographic experiences, to participate as consultants on a statewide advisory council. This council is open for ANYONE and EVERYONE to apply. If you answer yes to any of these then this council is for you!
• Have you lived in group homes or foster care? APPLY
• Do you have any special health concerns? APPLY
• Do you identify as LGBTQ? APPLY
• Have you and/or your peers ever experienced oppression or marginalization? APPLY
This council was started in 2000 and continues to be supported by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Youth consultants on this council, provide feedback and recommendations to state, and community partners who are working to positively impacting the lives of Colorado’s youth. (i.e. YOU!)
Participation in this council will provide opportunities for you to develop leadership skills, increase your knowledge of various health topics and engage in meaningful ways to have your unique voices heard.
Membership Facts:
YOU GET TO BE THE EXPERT!
• A place where your opinions and ideas are listened to
• Consultants are paid $10/hour + reimbursement for transportation to meetings
• The council meets one Saturday per month for 5 hours (most likely in Denver)
• Provides opportunities to meet other youth from around the state
• Offers creative ways to learn about youth health and the factors that can effect it
If interested, or if you know other young people whose voices need to be heard, please fill out the attached application (There is only ONE question and you get to answer it in any CREATIVE way you see fit!) and send it to Audra Bishop (contact info below…fax, scan/email, or go “old school” and send through the mail).
Audra Bishop, M.A., CACIII
Youth Health and Development Specialist
Prevention Services Division
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
4300 Cherry Creek Drive South
Denver CO 80246-1530
303-691-4936 | audra.bishop@state.co.us
Resources on Suicide Prevention, Drug Abuse and Children’s Social, Emotional & Behavioral Health
March 6, 2012 – 12:21 pm
Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) Unveils New Website Click here for LINK:
NIDA Creates Easy-to-Read Website on Drug Abuse
New site for adults with limited literacy skills, with audio versions of each page
21 Feb 2012, National Institute on Drug Abuse
PolicyforResults.org: Promoting Children’s Social, Emotional and Behavioral Health
28 Feb 2012, Policy for Results
As a part of its commitment to ensuring that all children are healthy, the Center for the Study of Social Policy has developed a new section on PolicyforResults.org and a corresponding report that focuses specifically on promoting children’s social, emotional and behavioral health.
In addition to facts about the issue, the new section includes policy strategies that states can use to promote children’s full health. The information in this section is designed to support policymakers in their efforts to ensure that all families have access to necessary, quality care. State policymakers can help children grow up with the supports they need to be healthy and productive.
Helping Youth with Learning Disabilities Chart the Course: A Guide for Youth Service Professionals
Feb 2012, Issue 32, National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability (NCWD) for Youth
300 Vet Centers Here for Vets Who Served in Combat Zones
24 Feb 2012, US Department of Veterans Affairs
TOOLS
Check out the Colorado Rural Health Center’s State Bill Tracker
CRHC monitors legislation at the state and federal level to assess potential impacts on rural providers and communities. You can see which state bills CRHC is supporting, monitoring or opposing by clicking here. This link is a static link. You may save it into your favorites and open it at any time to see the bills that have been introduced which may impact the healthcare in rural Colorado, as well as to check their status and see CRHC’s position. For more information, contact Alicia Haywood at ah@coruralhealth.org
Underage Drinking News, Media, Resources and Seminars
March 2, 2012 – 10:36 am
Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center
Resource Alert Summary – March 2012
Movie Alcohol Exposure (MAE) may influence early youth drinking behavior
According to a December 2011 article published in an online public Journal of the British Medical Association, BMJ Open, watching movies featuring alcohol use accounted for 28 percent of the youth who started drinking and for 20 percent of those who moved on to binge drinking. Movie Alcohol Exposure includes viewing actors in real or implied drinking behavior as well as alcohol product placement.
During a two year study of more than 6,500 U.S. youth aged 10 to 14, Dartmouth Medical School researchers (Stoolmiller et al. 2011) surveyed youth four times about their consumption of alcohol as well as potentially influential factors such as movie viewing and market exposure, home environment, peer behavior and personal rebelliousness.
Youth in the survey sample who started drinking alcohol more than doubled from 11 percent to 25 percent over the two years, and the proportion of those who started binge drinking (five or more drinks in a row) tripled from 4 percent to 13 percent, the researchers found. They also reported watching an average of 4.5 hours of popular feature films per week; 95% of which were rated as showing drinking in a positive light or having product placement. Higher levels of MAE was predictive of increased rates of onset and progression to binge drinking.
While researchers discovered a statistical relationship between alcohol use in movies and teen drinking, it does prove a cause-and-effect relationship. However results confirmed an earlier study in Germany showing MAE effects. Authors suggest the strong relationship between alcohol product placement in movies and youth identification with positive images of movie stars drinking impacts underage drinking behaviors which warrants parent and community awareness and further study.
The full study can be accessed by visiting this link:
RESOURCE ALERT LEGAL CASE
“Does an underage buyer, working with the police on a compliance check, have an obligation to stop and identify themselves to a doorman who is not paying attention to the minors when they enter?”
On January 19th, 2012 the Iowa Court of Appeals rendered their opinion in the matter of the Motif, LTD v. Iowa Alcohol Beverage Division. The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division (IABD) administrator ruled licensee Motif, Ltd., d/b/a Bo-James, did not exercise reasonable care to ascertain the ages of underage patrons when it served them beer. Bo-James appealed. The district court reversed and remanded for dismissal of the agency’s complaint. IABD appealed arguing substantial evidence supports the administrator’s ruling.
This case will take the reader into the Court’s analysis of the issues developed around the question of sufficiency of evidence when this case works its way through the Iowa regulatory and legal system.
The case in its entirety can be found and reviewed by simply visiting this link:
NATIONAL ELECTRONIC SEMINARS
Looking at Underage Drinking Data: What Do the Numbers Tell Us?
Date: Thursday, March 15, 2012
Time: 3:00-4:15 p.m. ET
Speakers: Dr. Ted Miller, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation; Maryann Harakall, Maine EUDL Coordinator and Diane Riibe, Project Extra Mile
Alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug among youth in the United States, more than tobacco and illicit drugs. Although drinking by persons under the age of 21 is illegal, people aged 12 to 20 years drink 11% of all alcohol consumed in the United States. So what costs do we as a society bear as a result of this behavior? How is this data used by states and communities to aid in their planning and resource allocation on underage drinking?
This program will look at the latest cost data to include how it is compiled and calculated and will also feature data users from the public and private sectors providing our audience with information on how important data can be for the EUDL program and how it can be used to plan and allocate. Further we will discuss how non-profit advocacy organizations can find data sources for their work and how this cost data has specifically been used successfully in Nebraska.
Please join us for this most informative and useful call. *Visit this link to register.*
UDETC RESOURCES Spotlight: Underage Drinking Cost Sheets
The UDETC offers underage drinking costs sheets for the Nation, each of the 50 States and the District of Columbia. These costs sheets delineate the estimated costs that are incurred as a direct result of underage alcohol consumption in terms of youth violence, traffic crashes, property crime, injury, alcohol treatment and several other categories. These sheets can be found for review and download on our website at this link:
To see the entire Resource Alert for this month visit this link:
The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of the Summit Prevention Alliance or the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) or the Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center (UDETC) and are solely of the author/source.
DUI for Marijuana Standard
February 28, 2012 – 11:20 am
State looking to manage driving while intoxicated. Click Here to read about how Colorado revisits marijuana DUI standard. 2-5 nanograms of THC per milliliter for driving. Various states have different rates. What is right for Colorado?
Parents say no to teen drinking, it works!
February 21, 2012 – 12:46 pm
A couple of recent studies show that parents have the ability to influence their kids. Reported by the article in NPR, parental disapproval can be a powerful force to keep teens from succumbing to the impulse to drink. This is a key piece of information. There’s abundant evidence that the longer teenagers can delay drinking, the less likely they are to have problems with alcohol as adults. Teen drinking also increases the risk of unsafe sex, drunk driving and other hazardous behaviors. and in a 2010 study in the United States found that while parental rules didn’t necessarily prevent teenagers from taking that first drink, it did reduce the likelihood that they would go on to binge drink. The teenagers with indulgent parents were three times as likely to binge drink as were those whose parents set strict rules prohibiting drinking. So what will you do now?
Summit Prevention Alliance Hiring Executive Director
February 14, 2012 – 7:32 pm
Executive Director
Job Description
The Summit Prevention Alliance is a community-based non-profit organization whose mission is to actively promote healthy lifestyles and behaviors through education and prevention services in the diverse community of Summit County. SPA is currently involved in several community-based prevention programs such as the Drug Free Committee Coalition, tobacco education and prevention, Asset Builders of the Summit, This Is Us Student Committee, social norms campaigns and substance abuse prevention programming in the Summit School District.
The Executive Director position with SPA is a full-time position based in the Frisco office of SPA. The Executive Director reports directly to the Board of Directors.
Responsibilities include the following:
- Hire and supervise all Summit Prevention Alliance employees
- Maintain the Board of Directors
- Administer all fiscal and legal aspects of the organization
- Coordinate the delivery of prevention services with other professionals in the community
- Oversee all prevention programs of SPA
- Build prevention programs and principals into other community sectors and entities
- Identify and develop prevention programs as needed by the community
- Conduct annual evaluation of services provided by the Summit Prevention Alliance
- With the Board, ensure the sustainability of the agency through development of fundraising opportunities and grant writing
- Ensure fulfillment of operational requirements, such as office space, maintenance of all required equipment, etc.
- Communicate with funders and ensure completion of all required reports and documentation
- Other responsibilities, as determined by the Board of Directors
Initial Focus:
- Increasing, strengthening and diversifying the organization’s funding sources; working with the board of directors to develop policies, guidelines and priorities around work plans and their acquisition; and overseeing the actual acquisitions including negotiations and implementation.
- Enhancing the relationship between the community, staff and coalitions.
- Increasing SPA’s visibility and influence with legislators, stakeholders, and other constituencies as well as with the general public;
- Developing an organizational infrastructure that will support anticipated growth.
Major Qualifications: The ideal candidate will have:
- Significant and proven leadership skills developed through several years in senior management positions.
- Excellent organizational development, interpersonal, marketing, communication, administration and personnel management skills essential.
- Experience in non-profit management and leadership.
- Understanding of non- profits and experience working with boards of directors and volunteers particularly helpful.
- Ability to move seamlessly within the health care, mental health, non-profit, business, government and local communities.
- Is visionary, trustworthy, diplomatic, understanding and innovative with high energy level.
- Experience managing a complex budget of no less than $500,000.
- Ability to build collaborative ventures with diverse constituents.
- Passion for the mission of SPA.
- Success at fund development, including knowledge of and success in attracting foundation and corporate grants; ability to identify, steward and solicit individual donors.
- Excellent communication skills, both written and oral; strong presentation skills.
- The ability to foster a healthy organizational culture, to encourage teamwork and collaboration; strong interpersonal skills that include the ability to inspire and motivate; effective at conflict management.
- Ability to raise the visibility of the organization through successful marketing including expansion of the membership base.
- Excellent analytic skills.
- Multi-cultural sensitivity.
- Experience working with and developing an effective Board of Directors.
- Legislative political savvy.
- Computer literate.
Send resumes with cover letter and salary requirements in complete confidence to: SPA@SummitPreventionAlliance.org
Marijuana Issues and Resources
February 13, 2012 – 2:52 pm
Marijuana Fact of the Month
Marijuana increases heart rate by 20-100 percent shortly after smoking; this effect can last up to 3 hours. In one study, it was estimated that marijuana users have a 4.8-fold increase in the risk of heart attack in the first hour after smoking the drug. This may be due to increased heart rate as well as the effects of marijuana on heart rhythms, causing palpitations and arrhythmias. This risk may be greater in aging populations or in those with cardiac vulnerabilities.
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[1] 5 Mittleman MA, Lewis RA, Maclure M, Sherwood JB, Muller JE. Triggering myocardial infarction by marijuana. Circulation 103(23):2805–2809, 2001.
The legalization of marijuana has many issues. Be in the know. Marijuana is a topic of significant public discourse in the United States, and while many are familiar with the discussions, it is not always easy to find the latest, research-based information on marijuana to answer to the common questions about its health effects, or the differences between Federal and state laws concerning the drug. Confusing messages being presented by popular culture, media, proponents of “medical” marijuana, and political campaigns to legalize all marijuana use perpetuate the false notion that marijuana is harmless. This significantly diminishes efforts to keep our young people drug free and hampers the struggle of those recovering from addiction.
The White House Administration steadfastly opposes legalization of marijuana and other drugs. Legalization would increase the availability and use of illicit drugs, and pose significant health and safety risks to all Americans, particularly young people. In support of this position, ONDCP has created a Web-based resource center that provides the general public, community leaders, and other interested people with the facts, knowledge, and tools to better understand and address marijuana in their communities. This resource center will be regularly updated and expanded to address emerging issues, research, and prevention tools, and highlight successful local efforts to reduce marijuana use.
Please follow the link below to access this resource center.