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SAPCA's Highlights & Annoucements
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Accelerating Assets in Alexandria
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Accelerating Assets in Alexandria brought together community members and representatives from multiple city agencies, schools, and youth serving organizations to learn about the Developmental Assets Framework, hear the results from the 2016 Developmental Assets survey, and to select three or four Developmental Assets the community can collectively work toward improving over the next four years.
The workshop featured Michael Swisher, Asset Specialist for Arlington County, and Clinton Page, Chief Accountability Officer for ACPS, who helped attendees connect the assets to their work with youth and understand how Alexandria youth are doing in achieving the 40 Developmental Assets.
Workshop attendees voted for the top assets they would like to see the community focus on over the next four years. Four Developmental Assets were selected:
- Positive Family Communication
- Community Values Youth
- Creative Activities
- Personal Power
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January Prescription Drug Take Back
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Deputy Valarie Wright drops off the collected medications for safe disposal at Covanta.
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Alexandria residents braved the cold and snow to clean out their medicine cabinets and safely dispose of unused/expired medications on January 7. Three drop off locations were set up throughout Alexandria allowing officers and deputies to collect 200 pounds of medications. SAPCA was onsite at each location handing out at-home disposal kits for residents to safely dispose of medications in between take back day events. Special thanks to our Coalition partners for providing this service to our community: Alexandria Police Department, Alexandria Sheriff's Office, The Neighborhood Pharmacy of Del Ray and Covanta. The next Prescription Drug Take Back event will be held on Saturday, April 29th - mark your calendars!
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On Wednesday March 15, SAPCA celebrated Kick Butts Day, an annual day of activism, sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, that empowers youth to take action against tobacco use. More than 2,000 events are held around the country mobilizing youth to raise awareness about the problems of tobacco use in schools and the community.
On Kick Butts Day this year, over thirty teens from T.C. Williams JROTC program, and Campagna Center's Building Better Futures Program visited over 50 stores to conduct merchant education. They wanted to ensure tobacco vendors properly train staff and check IDs for tobacco sales.
Mayor Silbergerg kicked off the event by reminding students about the amount of money tobacco companies spend to get people their age addicted. Then Captain Ladislaw spoke about how tobacco impacted his life - his father was a lifelong smoker with severe health issues, which eventually killed him. The event was emceed by T.C. Williams Students, Maryama Arale and Michayla Haynesworth. |
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April is Alcohol Awareness Month
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Community of Concern Dinner at George Washington Middle School (4/26)
REGISTER Tough Talk!
For ACPS Middle School Families
Let's start talking about teen substance abuse prevention
with our middle schoolers...
and keep the conversations going.
Please join us for a night of expert presentations,
student speakers, intergenerational discussions, and raffles!
Wednesday, April 26
6:00pm - 8:00pm
George Washington Middle School
1005 Mount Vernon Avenue (22301)
Childcare, family dinner, and interpretation services provided with registration.
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* Teach your child that abstinence from alcohol is an acceptable lifelong decision and that they have a right to stand up for a safe academic environment.
* Teach your child that drinking can be risky and to intervene when they see that their class-
mates are in trouble.
* If your child is of legal age to drink (21 in all states), explain to them how to use alcohol mod- erately (no more than two drinks per day for men, no more than one per day for women) and appropriately (as a complement to a meal and at social gatherings or during family celebrations).
* If you drink, be sure to set an ongoing healthy example regarding adult alcohol use and never brag about your use of alcohol or other drugs during your own college years.
* When helping your children to select an appropriate college, be willing to question officials about campus alcohol policies. The Best Colleges, an annual guide published by the Princeton Review, groups schools by categories ("Lots of beer," "Lots of hard liquor," "Major frat and soror- ity scene" and "Stone-cold sober schools").
* When your children go to college, set clear and realistic expectations regarding academic performance, and continue to be as interested and involved in their lives as you were when they were in high school.
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Upcoming Community Events:
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Prescription Drug Take Back Day
April 29th, 10 am - 2 pm
Alexandria Police Headquarters
First Baptist Church
Alexandria Fire Department
The Neighborhood Pharmacy of Del Ray
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Contact Us:
Whitney Chao, MPH
Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition of Alexandria
421 King Street, 4th Floor Suite
Alexandria, VA 22314
O: 703.746.3670
C: 571.414.8297
www.PreventItAlexandria.org
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