Welcome to November Partner Pulse
Thank you so much for your participation in the TYSA coalition. Whether you are a business or nonprofit partner, workgroup member or Steering Committee member, your commitment and hard work helps us to accomplish our goals. Below you will read about TYSA workgroups, decisions of the TYSA Steering Committee, and important partner updates and upcoming events.
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December marks National Impaired Driving Prevention Month. This holiday season is an important time for us as to be mindful of impaired driving. Make sure that your loved ones are alert and sober when they are behind the wheel, and that they have a safe ride to their next destination if they have been drinking.
According to NYPD data on motor vehicle collisions in Staten Island, November/December in 2016 and 2017 have been especially dangerous with more motor vehicle collisions than at other times of the year.
More attention needs to be paid to the issue of impaired driving year-round, especially as recreational marijuana use moves towards legalization in New York State, which would normalize the use of a substance that has the potential to impair drivers. In Staten Island, DWI arrests have increased by 15% over the past 5 years, even as other boroughs have seen gradual declines over the past several years.
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ATTENTION TYSA MEMBERS:
HELP NEEDED!!
TYSA is conducting the OASAS Young Adult Survey among 18-25 olds who live, work, or go to school in Staten Island. The anonymous surveys assess substance use behaviors, which will help TYSA align our strategies accordingly.
Please let us know if you are willing to have surveys available at your site for any interested 18-25 year olds, if you have any young adults you can share the surveys with (electronic or paper), or if you know of any events that would be a good place to distribute surveys. We can bring the paper surveys to you and you can also access the survey at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7XG83KZ
Additionally, we need volunteers to distribute surveys at events, post flyers in local businesses, and help enter survey data.
This is a huge and important undertaking, and we greatly appreciate the support of our partners. Please reach out to steven@sipcw.org if you can assist.
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The Halloween Sticker Shock was a success! Curtis Health Ambassadors, Petrides Community Affairs Project students, and Alternate Learning Center students placed over 1,350 stickers on alcohol packaging at local stores in the community. ALC students used their own unique stickers that they designed for the campaign.
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The CSI Campus Community Coalition and TYSA hosted an Alcohol Prevention Forum at CSI. Students participated in a dialogue with an expert panel after watching a video about the tragic death of a young man who was mixing prescription drugs and alcohol. Topics discussed included poly-drug use, party culture, and bystander intervention, and there were about 150 students in attendance.
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- TYSA participated in the Shatterproof Rise Up Against Addiction 5K. Shatterproof is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the devastation addiction causes families, and the 5K walk is one of their efforts to help stamp out the stigma of addiction.
- There was a Drug Awareness Workshop at the Staten Island Justice Center facilitated by TYSA and the District Attorney's office. The young people in the Justice Community Plus program discussed the local drug landscape and the effects of drug use on employment.
- At the SIEDC Health & Wellness Expo, TYSA did a Bystander Intervention training with Wagner College students/ Students learned what a bystander is, barriers bystanders face, and how to intervene safely & effectively, including a Narcan training led by CHASI.
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- TYSA's recent partnership with St. Clare's school led to a Naloxone training by CHASI. The training was well-received, with 25 engaged participants.
- The SI Advance covered TYSA's Opioid Safety Intiative, a collaboration with the District Attorney's Office and CHASI. In response to the high rate of opioid overdoes on Staten Island, TYSA is offering business owners and employees a free opioid safety training on how to prevent an opioid overdose in their establishment, how to respond to an opioid overdose in progress, and how to connect with substance use treatment services in the community. Read the SI Advance coverage here: Partnership to prevent public ODs puts naloxone in local businesses
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- Workgroup members reviewed and modified the TYSA Policy & Advocacy chart of work. Members also reviewed the policy agenda and suggested changes such as adding cannabis to the agenda, funding for non-reimbursable peer services, and alcohol prevention strategies besides a social host law.
- The group suggested that we recommend a minimum age of 25 for the TYSA Cannabis Response to have a stronger argument in terms of brain development and tie into our target population we are trying to protect (youth & young adults). The group agreed that we need to create a separate statement on decriminalization, but we might have differing opinions on this. Next steps include looking to other coalitions for language around decriminalization and what that will look like and reaching out to an expert to provide the coalition with more information about the systemic impacts in the criminal justice system.
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TYSA staff traveled to San Diego for the annual American Public Health Association conference and presented a poster on the Opioid Safety Initiative for Businesses. TYSA also presented on collaborative efforts with BAAFT that resulted in the successful removal of alcohol advertising from the MTA. In Albany, TYSA staff attended the OASAS Partnership for Success Learning Institute with the NYC Prevention Resource Center to learn about coalition sustainability.
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Join TYSA and Assemblywoman Malliotakis for a Parents You Matter Workshop at Petrides High School on Wednesday November 28th at 6:30 pm. The workshop will include information about the drug landscape in Staten Island, how to prevent substance use in your home and community, how to communicate with your children about substance use, and how to identify warning signs of substance use, and how to access local resources.
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| "Senior Moments" is a poignant and hilarious view of aging in all its many facets. Growing older is filled with new realities and challenges that can be hilarious at times, but difficult at others.Playwright/Composer Linda Kaufman and Playwright Mark A. Lit capture both extremes in this original musical. |
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