The Parents Who Host campaign was another success. Curt told the group that a resent survey suggests that the PWH campaign is one of the most recognizable programs that CESA is a part of. Yard signs should be taken down and will be collected over the next week. Thanks to everyone who hosted a sign.
The mission statement, beliefs and Strategy was submitted to the group for approval. Only minor edits were suggested and accepted. It was decided by the group that what we have at this point is very good to start with. The Group adopted the submission with the suggested edits. See the complete statements below.
Steven will add the statements to the website and create a single page broacher to be used when meeting with various groups.
Steven will also contact the newspaper with this new information.
Recruitment of active members was discussed at length. We have a large group of people who follow what we do and help out on occasion. We have a small group of people who attend meetings and take on a majority of the planning and organization. It was decided that we need to make an effort to engage more people who can help with the planning and organizing. We also need to determine if there are any strategic areas that we need to specifically find people to help with. One area that continues to come up is in the area of sports and athletics. We currently do not have any active member who is part of the athletics organization in the school district. Kristina was tasked with talking with Coach Pals at the high school to see what support he could lend to the group. It was proposed that a more open meeting environment may be a key to getting more people to meetings. Patrick will look into using the Rec Center for our monthly meetings. He will also see if we can advertise these meetings in their facility.
Staying true to our mission statement we are going to start a campaign to reach out to all the groups in the Lodi Area that work with the youth. We want to get them on board with our mission and working together in a coordinated effort. Susan will create a list of these groups and we will make an effort to meet with them individually. Our goal will be to get them to buy into their group supporting our mission and working with other groups to put on events that address youth health issues, specifically involving alcohol and other illicit use of drugs.
The first event we hope to do working in conjunction with these other groups would be a Youth Health Summit in early October. At this summit we will present the information from the Choices Survey and hold a discussion on what and how to address these issues. We will then old a second meeting with the groups involved and make plans based on the feedback received at the summit.
Steven will put together a draft agenda for the Summit. He will also create a talking paper for use in working with the various youth organizations.
Mission Statement
The Lodi Community Action Team promotes the creation of a healthy environment that fosters alcohol and other drug free choices among our youth.
Beliefs
- We believe that easy access to alcohol and illicit use of prescription drugs are a major obstacle in teens making healthy choices.
- We believe that for teens to make healthy choices they must live in an environment that emphasizes the positives of healthy choices.
- We believe that active and involved parents are a major component to developing teens that make healthy choices.
- We believe that the community at large is a major influence in developing habits of the communities teens.
- We believe that legislation, policy change, and education can change our environment and ultimately influence behavior.
Strategies
- We will provide and support programs that educate and connect the community in creating a healthy environment for our children, such as Parents Who Host, Lose the Most, Local Drug Round Ups, and the Parent Pledge Program.
- We will develop working partnerships with schools, government agencies and local organizations to coordinate efforts in promoting healthy lifestyle choices.
- We will maintain a Speakers Bureau for presenters and presentation that address drug and alcohol misuse and promotes healthy lifestyle choices for use by community and school groups.
- We will hold an annual town hall meeting to educate and inform the community at large on our progress in the areas of teen access to alcohol and other drugs.
- We will conduct monthly LCAT meetings that are open to the public.