NSE Selected to Present at the 21st National Leadership Forum in DC

New Social Engine (NSE) has been selected to present at this years Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) conference in February 2011 in Washington, DC. Student leaders from each campus group along with Program Coordinator Dave Bratton will deliver a best practices workshop to a national audience of over 3,000 attendees on the NSE model and experience as it relates to reducing the consequences of high risk and underage alcohol consumption among the 18 to 25 year old population using an environmental prevention approach.

CADCA is a national membership organization of over 5,000 anti-drug coalitions, each working to make their community safe, healthy, and drug-free. For more information on CADCA and the National Leadership Conference visit their website at  CADCA.org

New Social Engine Roars to Life in Fall Semester

New Social Engine (NSE) groups at the area colleges and universities reconvened after a summer hiatus and have come to life with a roar! "We hit the ground running this fall", project coordinator Dave Bratton reflected. Since the fall semester convened in late August, the Drew, FDU and CCM campus NSE chapters have sponsored over sixteen (16) major alcohol free events with participation totaling nearly three thousand (3,000) students. This is not including the monthly NSE coalitions meetings and leadership round tables. The massive impact this initiative has had on the college community has not gone unrecognized by the university staff. "NSE has made a noticeable difference here", a FDU administrative staff member commented recently. Other positive feedback has been that this years college opening was one of the quietest on record. Besides gaining a significant loyal membership NSE has also made an impact on school policy. In little more than a year since its inception the NSE groups have begun to impact the substance use policies of each of their campuses. 

To read more about the group and their recent events, check out these articles in the college newspapers: 

http://www.drewacorn.com/life-arts/weekend-nightlife-comes-to-drew-1.1577167

http://www.drewacorn.com/life-arts/how-to-get-high-naturally-1.1602714

http://www.drewacorn.com/life-arts/humans-vs-zombies-1.1436262

http://themetrofdu.com/blog1/2010/10/04/comedian-discusses-natural-high/

http://themetrofdu.com/blog1/2010/10/04/nse%E2%80%88pool-party-makes-a-splash/

http://themetrofdu.com/blog1/2010/09/20/new-beginnings-at-fall-club-fair/

New Social Engine (NSE) is an initiative of Morris County Prevention is Key and is funded through the Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant (SPF-SIG), a program designed to prevent and reduce the harmful consequences of alcohol use among 18-25 year olds in Morris County's Collegiate Community. For more information please contact Dave Bratton at 973-625-1998 or dbratton@mcpik.org.www.newsocialengine.com

County-Wide Recovery Month Celebration

 

On September 23, 2010 Morris County Prevention Is Key collaborated with the Market Street Mission to host Morris County's first annual county-wide Recovery Month Celebration. Twenty-one partner community organizations joined MCPIK at the Morristown Green to offer information about addiction, prevention, treatment and recovery services. Keynote speakers included MC Freeholder John Murphy, Morris Township Mayor Scott Rosenbush, a member of the local recovery community as well as an open mic opportunity for other community members to share their personal stories of recovery. Legislators, addiction and prevention professionals and community members all expressed their great appreciation for the event and looked forward to participating again next year.

Morris County Prosecutor's Office and JBWS are Featured at Wednesday's FREE Hispanic Town Hall in Dover

Community Trials Intervention is sponsoring a free Hispanic Community Town Hall Meeting on Underage Drinking on Wednesday, June 9th from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at Head Start in Dover (18 Thompson Ave, Dover). The purpose of the meeting is to increase community awareness on the issue of underage drinking, identify how underage drinking affects the community, and brainstorm possible solutions. The meeting will provide an opportunity for parents, officials, youth, and other community members to voice their concerns and suggest ideas for preventing young people from using alcohol. Detective Mark Castellano from the Morris County Prosecutor's Office as well as Amanda Lopez from Jersey Battered Women's Services will be featured speakers at the meeting.

Light refreshments as well as babysitting services will be provided. If you plan on bringing your children, please call Head Start at 973-989-9052 to register for babysitting.

Please contact Heidi Brotzman at hbrotzman@mcpik.org or 973-625-1998 for more information.

Pending State Budget Cuts to Tobacco Prevention Programs is Bad News for New Jersey

Letter to the Editor
By Jack Elsmore
Tobacco Prevention Coordinator, Morris County Prevention is Key

As of June 30, 2010, funding for tobacco prevention and education programs through the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services’ (NJDHSS) Comprehensive Tobacco Control Program (CTCP) will come to an end due to state budget cuts. As a result, the dedicated educators who have been conducting tobacco prevention programs for many years throughout the state will likely be unable to continue providing free programs for schools, businesses, and other community organizations.

The fact is that the state of New Jersey collects around $750 million in cigarette taxes each year, yet only spends about $7 million on tobacco prevention and cessation programs. So where is all that money going, and why can’t some of it be used for tobacco prevention purposes? More importantly, what happens when the funding stops? Will smoking-related diseases increase in New Jersey as result? Will more kids start smoking at an early age because there is no one there to educate them or their parents about the dangers?

The need for programs like CTCP is clear. According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, around 9,000 youth under the age of 18 become daily smokers each year in New Jersey alone. It gets even worse when you consider the whole picture of tobacco use in our state:

The Toll of Tobacco in New Jersey
• High school students who smoke: 15.8% (74,600)
• Male high school students who use smokeless or spit tobacco: 9.0% (females use much lower)
• Kids exposed to secondhand smoke at home: 398,000
• Packs of cigarettes bought or smoked by kids each year: 17.1 million
• Adults in New Jersey who smoke: 14.8% (981,900)

(Source: Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/settlements/toll.php?StateID=NJ)

As the Tobacco Prevention Coordinator at Morris County Prevention is Key, I have provided a program called “Smoke Signals” to over 30,000 youth and adults in Morris County in just two and a half years. When CTCP funds end on June 30, programs like Smoke Signals that help prevent and reduce tobacco use among youth and the community at large will be extremely difficult to sustain. I will still do volunteer work in Morris County trying to reach as many as I can, but without state funding, the fight to keep New Jersey smoke-free is in jeopardy – and so is our health. At this time all we can do is hope.

Morris County Prevention is Key (MCPIK) is a non-profit agency dedicated to promoting the health and well being of our community and to preventing substance abuse, addiction, violence and related issues through heightened awareness, advocacy, education programs, information, referral, and other services. MCPIK’s office is located at 25 W. Main St, Rockaway, NJ. For more information please contact us by phone 973-625-1998 or email info@mcpik.org or visit us on the web at www.mcpik.org.