June 17, 2004

Saratoga Partnership for Prevention
Meeting Minutes

R. Ambrosino, L. Beer, L. Chamberlain, B. Dixon, J. Ekman, J. Fei, L. Hassenger,
N. Karas, J. Kelly, K. Kuznia, B. LaBarge, S. Lang, M. Laudicina, R. Lavigne,
B. Lombardo, M. MacPherson, D. McGarry, E. Nolan, K. Pettigrew, K. Sephas,
B. Stanley, J. Tirelli, S. Wolos.

Topic

Discussion

Decisions/Actions to be Taken

Partnership Background

·  It’s the Partnership’s 4^th year of existence. Many programs, such as TIPS, All Stars camp, and Strengthening Families, have been ongoing. Two new efforts are the Saratoga County Parenting Coalition, which is studying ways to bring continuous parenting education programs to Saratoga County families; and the Saratoga County Youth Experience, which is studying ways to create a Youth Advisory Council throughout the county. This meeting will help us focus on plans for the fall.

·  Partnership members broke into three groups and each group spent time at the following stations:

·  Goal: Chart Partnership and member activities that take place to address underage drinking to be combined in a unified campaign.

·  Partners brainstormed human service activities already taking place in the area and mapped them out on a large calendar, broken into months and quarters of the year.

·  Partners also identified activities/trainings/events they’d like to be available, but aren’t currently out there. Current events were on pink post it notes, new ideas were on yellow post it notes, and all other ideas were on blue post it notes.

·  Goal: Develop rationale for a Youth Advisory Committee – a forum for young people to influence community decisions affecting them, promote positive behavioral norms, and develop leadership skills.

·     Partners brainstormed characteristics of steering committee members, age range, and personal characteristics

·     Considered why kids and adults would want to participate and how to    recruit people to the group.

·     Partners volunteered short, catchy phrases that could be used as the tagline for an underage drinking prevention campaign.

·     After dinner, all partners used sticker dots to vote for their top three tagline choices. Top three vote getters were:

·     This is not a test.
·     Stop fooling yourself. (words inside a stop sign)
·     Too good to waste.
·     Own your tomorrow.
·     My life, My choice.

The next Partnership meeting will take place on Thursday, September 9^th at the school district administration offices on the high school campus.