On Wednesday, February 5, 2020, Mentor Foundation USA presented alongside a panel of inspirational community organizations at the Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) Demand Reduction Coordinator’s and Community Outreach Specialist’s Meeting at CADCA’s 30th Annual National Leadership Forum.
The panel focused on successful youth-oriented prevention initiatives across the United States and collaboration with the DEA on community-level prevention interventions. Mentor Foundation USA program coordinator Sergio Chavez presented our effective peer-to-peer Living The Example program as well as Mentor’s recent collaborations with DEA to support and empower youth in Anne Arundel County, Maryland and Los Angeles, California. Fellow organizations represented on the panel included the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and the DEA Educational Foundation.
About CADCA’s National Leadership Forum
To help increase collaboration and positive impacts by their coalitions nationawide, CADCA is holding its 30th National LEadership Forum, including SAMHSA’s 16th Annual Prevention Day. CADCA’s forum is the premier and largest training event for community-based substance use and misuse prevention leaders – and now more than ever, you’ll find training, resources and connections at your fingertips to create healthy, safe and drug-free communites at home. www.cadca.org
About Living the Example
Our ‘Living the Example’ (LTE) peer-to-peer program empowers youth to speak up and out against drugs and provides them a platform to be heard. Through interactive outreach campaigns and listening to our youth, we provide the tools for them to become their own advocates for staying drug-free. The program has shown promising results in terms of shifts in attitudes towards drugs and intent to use drugs. This program was developed together with the George Washington University.