As I sit here to write my first newsletter article as the new UBHCHY Chair, I find myself reflecting over the past several years.  Prior to joining the UBHCHY coalition I was not familiar with the world of prevention and coalitions, I was simply a concerned parent wanting to do my best raising two amazing children.  As the world of the Search Institute’s 40 Assets opened up to me, I’ve been consistently amazed at the number of people and resources available that are dedicated and focused on providing support to parents, educators and youth, allowing us all to reach our fullest potential.   I’m proud to be a part of this new-found community!

In recent newsletters, you’ve heard about the great work being done through activities such as the Social Norms Campaigns in our middle schools, the Performing Arts Festival, the Strengthening Families Program, and installation of permanent prescription drug drop boxes, just to name just a few.

In this issue, you’ll see first-hand the variety of activities in which the UBHCHY coalition is involved.  You’ll get an update on the recent National Leadership Forum sponsored by the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) in Washington DC.  You’ll hear that the AlcoholEdu program has expanded and is touching more of the youth in Upper Bucks.    Our Parent Chats Program is also gaining momentum.  The most recent Parent Chat focused on Crime and Our Youth, with an emphasis on Cyber Crime, Underage Drinking and Crime Prevention.   An upcoming Parent Chat will focus helping children make a smooth transition from 5th grade to middle school in the Palisades community.

Our next Prescription Drug Take Back Day will be on April 28, 2012 from 10am-2pm.  Tell your neighbors and friends!  We look forward to your participation and support of this very successful program that gets prescription drugs off the streets, out of our water supply and out of the hands of our youth.

And finally,  you will learn of a recent event that Lee Rush, UBHCHY Community Mobilizer was invited to attend at Harvard University- The launching of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation!  Lee was invited to the event as a result of his work in the field of restorative justice practices used in schools and communities throughout the country.  Thank you again for your continued support!  Keep building those assets!

Lee Rush, Upper Bucks Healthy Communities Healthy Youth Coalition’s Community Mobilizer, was invited along with 80 other national leaders to Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society to help launch Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation (BTWF).  Held on February 29th, the event was also sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation and drew high-profile names like Oprah Winfrey (who will broadcast part of the event on an upcoming television special), Deepak Chopra, and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.

The event was a way for the BTWF to gain “input from experts in the youth development field to help them formulate goals and priorities.” During the day, he met with twelve other professionals in the School Culture and Climate work-stream. A total of five other small groups met during the day focusing on issues such as research and evaluation, legalities, youth-driven initiatives, school-based and social media curriculum. At the end of the day, each work-stream reported out to the larger group results of their day’s work and recommendations. The BTWF will be producing a paper encompassing the day’s proceedings.

Led by Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, the BTWF aims to foster a safe community by helping adolescents develop the skills necessary to create a “braver, kinder world.” After Lady Gaga was introduced by Oprah, she immediately made clear that the BTWF was not an “anti-bullying” initiative. “This is about transformative change and culture,” she said. “This is not an anti-bullying foundation — this is a youth empowerment foundation. The BTWF encourages healthy youth development through research, training and service, according to the Center’s website.

“I want everyone to feel safe in their community,” Gaga said. “The three pillars are SSO — Safety, Skills, and Opportunity… Once you feel safe in your environment and you acquire the skills to be a loving and accepting person, the opportunities for you are endless to become a great, functioning human in society.”

In Rush’s small work group, he shared stories of hope and positive outcomes from the many schools and communities that have already immersed themselves in the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP) SaferSanerSchool Whole School Change initiative.  (Rush is also an instructor for the IIRP).  Rush reported that it was clear from the reactions of some of his fellow work-stream participants that the idea of changing the culture and climate of a school through restorative practices was not only practical but essential.

“I was happy to see the BTWF focus on the overarching goal of promoting youth empowerment for good and not as an anti-bullying effort,” he commented on his return home.

On the day after the event, Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times wrote about the event, pointing out that “Experts from scholars to Education Secretary Arne Duncan are calling for more focus on bullying not only because it is linked to high rates of teen suicide, but also because it is an impediment to education.”

A piece by Connie Yowell at the Huffington Post, listed BTWF’s three essential pillars to building a braver, kinder world:

1. Youth need a safe environment in which to explore themselves and their individuality.
2. They need to learn the skills required to feel empowered and to lead.
3. Finally, they need opportunities to impact their local communities through solutions of their own design.

The local newspaper, The Intelligencer, ran a lengthy article about the event.  Below is an excerpt from the article.  Here is a link to the full article.

Perkasie’s Lee Rush wasn’t invited to participate in the symposium because he knows somebody. He was invited because he knows something about bullying through his work as a trainer at the Bethlehem-based Institute of Restorative Practices, a program designed to reduce discipline issues and improve the academic performance of students, and justCommunity, a youth development agency in Upper Bucks he founded in 1999. 

“I was at the oldest university in the country with people like Oprah and Lady Gaga, who has 20 million Twitter followers, talking about the problem of bullying,” said Rush, who was invited to the symposium by a planner he met at an international conference on bullying and prevention in November in New Orleans. “It was a high honor to be asked to be there.”

Sharing his knowledge on restorative justice and what happens when kids break rules, Rush brainstormed with the School Culture and Climate group, one of six 15-member groups of experts, researchers, policymakers and foundation representatives who met twice during the daylong symposium. Each smaller group then reported to the entire group.   “I’ve been involved my whole life in youth development and environment,” Rush said. “My takeaway from the symposium is that the work that I’m involved with in Upper Bucks and Quakertown is as relevant as any place in the world.”

There were longtime anti-bullying authorities like Rush, and there were neophytes like Lady Gaga, herself a target of bullies in school, where she was once tossed into a trash can.   “For Lady Gaga, someone so influential among young people, to focus her foundation on bullying is so important,” Rush said. “She was articulate and bright. She said she didn’t have all the answers and is still learning. She said the movement for a kinder, more compassionate world must come from the kids. And that her mom is president of the organization shows that she is well-grounded.”

Washington, D.C. – Mr. Ray Fox and Mr. Lee Rush, two members of the Upper Bucks Healthy Communities Healthy Youth Coalition (UBHCHY) recently joined 2,700 substance abuse prevention and treatment leaders from across the country at Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America’s (CADCA) 22^nd annual National Leadership Forum. This one-of-a-kind conference was held in Washington, DC from February 7^th-9^th.   During the three days, community leaders representing community coalitions from throughout the country connected with their peers and learned new community problem-solving skills.

Besides learning the latest strategies to prevent alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, the conference kicked off with a keynote address by Dr. James Fowler, Ph.D., author of Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives.  Dr. Fowler shared the latest information from his research about how human beings tend to be heavily influenced by their friends in subtle ways. The conference provides a once-a-year opportunity for local leaders to meet members of congress and also to hear from federal leaders about prevention efforts.

During the conference, UBHCHY members Fox and Rush, (along with fifteen others from throughout Bucks County) met with Representative Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-8^th) to share various concerns, (i.e., proposed cuts to federal programs for substance abuse prevention programs) and to share and celebrate recent happenings, (i.e., the current focus on the Rx Drug epidemic and the support of local police departments to place permanent Drop Boxes in their department lobbies).

“It was so exciting to be able to spend time in our nation’s Capitol, learning and honing our prevention skills so our community can be a healthier place for children,” said Ray Fox. “We’ve come back re-energized with new strategies under our belt to tackle substance abuse in Upper Bucks.”

The UBHCHY Coalition is once again currently sponsoring social norms marketing campaigns in area middle schools to support positive choices and behavior.  Another program UBHCHY is sponsoring this year is implementing AlcoholEdu, an online prevention course for 9^th graders.  Also, on April 28^th, the UBHCHY Coalition will be working with area police departments to support another Rx Drug Take Back Day where citizens can dispose of their unused or expired medicines.

CADCA is the national membership organization representing more than 5,000 coalitions and affiliates working to make America’s communities safe, healthy and drug-free. CADCA’s mission is to strengthen the capacity of community coalitions by providing technical assistance and training, public policy advocacy, media strategies and marketing programs, conferences, and special events.   Learn more at: www.cadca.org.

A group of Palisades parents gathered on January 5th at the Ottsville Fire Company for a UBHCHY Coalition’s Parent Chat. The topic for the evening was Crime and Our Youth and the guest speakers were police officers from Upper Bucks County.  Officer Matthew Reiss of the Hilltown Police Department hosted the event and was joined by Sergeant Matthew Phelan and Officer Mark Compas of the Tinicum Police Department.

The officers provided information about crime that our youth currently face. In particular, the officers shared their experiences of crime that takes place on the Internet. They cautioned parents to be involved with their children’s use of the Internet; to be aware of what their children are posting online and to personally join FaceBook and other social media outlets so they have knowledge of the happenings of their children and their children’s friends. Additionally, parents should be aware of cyber crimes such as credit card scams, the sale of illegal drugs and the existence of child predators who roam the net looking for victims.

Other topics such as the prevention of underage drinking, illegal drug use and the recent string of robberies in the area were also discussed.  Like all Parent Chats, this meeting encouraged a lively conversation among the parent attendees. The officers and parents all agreed on the importance of open and sustained communication with our children about crime. As always, parental involvement and monitoring of activities were emphasized as deterrents to crime.  If you are interested in participating in a Parent Chat please contact Judi Pason at judi.pason@gmail.com

Over eighteen months, the Upper Bucks Healthy Communities Healthy Youth Coalition (UBHCHY) has participated in prescription drug take back days that have been sponsored nationally by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and locally most notably by the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office. Ray Fox, UBHCHY past chair and current member, presented this idea to our countywide coalition, Bucks Promise, after returning from the 2010 national Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) conference.   The Bucks Promise Coalition is now a primary sponsor of these semi-annual events.  In Upper Bucks the following police departments have been involved by staffing and supplying the drop off sites for citizens to dispose of unused or expired drugs:  Richland Township, Quakertown Borough, Springfield Township, Pennridge Regional, Dublin Borough, Hilltown Township and Perkasie Police Departments.  There has been outstanding collaboration between all of the youth development coalitions in Bucks County, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, the County Commissioners, local Pharmacies, the Bucks County Area Office on Aging and local police departments.  Over the last three events we have collected over 4 tons of drugs in Bucks County!   This amount is more than any other county in the state of PA and is significantly more than any other similar area in the country.

The main idea of these events is to get prescription drugs off of the streets and out of the hands of people who would use them illegally.   Also, there is a concern for the environment because the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that excessive chemicals are found in ground water all of the time.  Too many people still believe the way to get rid of drugs is to flush them down the toilet.  According to our own local youth survey, 12% of Upper Bucks high school seniors have illegally used prescription medications in the prior 30 day period.  Over 70% of them obtain these drugs from family or friends.  These drugs that are found in our medicine cabinets.  Of special concern are the drugs that are used as pain killers.

In 2011, the UBHCHY Coalition began asking police departments to house their own permanent Drug Take Back boxes in their stations.  Since Quakertown Borough became the first department in Bucks County to place a permanent box in their lobby, (followed by Richland Township, Springfield Township and Pennridge Regional), fourteen other departments in the county have followed suit.  The idea is that anyone can confidentially drop off drugs to these boxes during the hours of operation where the police department is located.

The next Drug Take Back day is scheduled for 10:00-2:00 on Saturday April 28.  All of the police departments listed above are participating in this event.  Drugs can be dropped off at their locations.  Free information is handed out and a very brief exit survey is part of the program.

Lee Rush, Executive Director of justCommunity, visited Quakertown High School last fall to observe students using the online AlcoholEdu Program.  Rush wanted to observe a participating health class using the course after obtaining a $15,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) to purchase the program.  The grant paid for the implementation of AlcholEdu for all three high schools in Upper Bucks (Quakertown, Palisades and Pennridge).  The program is strictly alcohol education and it presents students with facts and statistics.  “Students get an individual online experience and it’s completely confidential,” said Lauren DeRewal, QCHS health teacher.  Ryan Stetler, Freshman Center health teacher, noted, “Alcohol education is important, especially at the age the students are now because this is the age when students are more likely to be subjected to alcohol if they haven’t already tried it.” Students said they enjoyed the course and found it useful and informative.  They especially liked that it is interactive. Rush said he was pleasantly surprised to see how successful the program is proving itself to be.

 http://qcsd.pegcentral.com/player.php?video=198372a4ddc1b02ee20bbe3ff03bc6f5

justCommunity Executive Director Lee Rush has been invited along with 80 other national leaders to attend a Symposium on Youth Meanness and Cruelty at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, February 29. This event coincides with the launch of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation.  The Symposium is hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society in partnership with the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

The Symposium is a working meeting that will focus on a variety of issues related to youth bullying, both on and offline. Rush will be working with the School Culture and Climate work-stream. This is one of six 15-member groups of experts, researchers, policymakers, foundation representatives, and others who will meet twice during the day and report back to the entire group.

“I am thrilled to be a part of this highly visible event. I certainly plan to share my views from a ‘restorative practices’ perspective and talk about the many schools that are well on their way towards building a safer environment by regularly using circles and restorative questions,” Rush said.

To register for a livestream of the gala event featuring Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, Deepak Chopra, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and others, click here. More information is available at the Born This Way Foundation website can be found here and their Facebook page.

Adapted from the Search Institute’s Article on the Upper Bucks Healthy Communities Healthy Youth Coalition.  Read the original article here.

Upper Bucks Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth Coalition used the results of a recent Attitudes and Behaviors survey to create a “Student Support Card“ (UBSSC) for their community. The document displays the current levels of Developmental Assets that Upper Bucks’ youth have and the change that has taken place since their baseline measure in 2002-2004. By highlighting “reasons to celebrate” and “reasons to stay connected,” the support card clearly points out places where the community has seen improvement and where youth still need support.

As UBHCHY explains, “The UBSSC is not a gauge to judge what is lacking. Rather, it is a strength-based measure to find out what supports do exist, and build upon that foundation. It is, most importantly, an assessment not only of our youth and their perceptions, but also of our communities that comprise Upper Bucks County. It is a clarion call for each of us to get involved in the lives of the youth in our midst.” The support card also includes more information on Upper Bucks HC • HY and information on how to get involved in asset building in their community.