Greetings!
Welcome to another issue of The SADDvocate! This month, we're sure your chapter is busy planning activities for Red Ribbon Week. The Chapter Spotlight will return in November, and we're looking for stories! If your chapter does something special and you'd like to see it highlighted for a national audience, send news and a good group photo to cegan@sadd.org. And we're thisclose to announcing the location for the 2011 SADD National Conference - look for that important news on our website soon! We're always trying to increase the number of subscribers for The SADDvocate, so that every SADD chapter knows the latest news. Please encourage your SADD students to sign up on sadd.org, or send a list (spreadsheets preferred, with columns for first name, last name, and e-mail address) to Chris Egan, SADD's Director of Field Services, at cegan@sadd.org. Sometimes school computer filters prevent students and advisors from seeing The SADDvocate properly, with full colors and graphics. You can view every issue in our online archive. This issue will be posted to the archive later today. A good source of regular SADD news is our Facebook page. Please like our page today, and encourage your friends to do so as well! Links to all our social network pages are on the left bar. |
 | ParentTeen Matters
|  SADD is proud to announce a new resource for parents that explores timely issues critical to the health and safety of teens: underage drinking and other drug use, the challenges of teen driving, and parental empowerment in helping teens thrive.
 This exciting new effort, called "ParentTeen Matters," is funded by a generous grant from the American Legion Child Welfare Foundation. It will launch later this month with a website (ParentTeenMatters.org) and e-newsletter for parents and other adults who are looking for insights and information about some of the most serious challenges teens face every day. You'll find answers to commonly asked questions, the latest research, and action steps and practical guidance for adults. Please let parents in your community know about this valuable resource!
You can receive the ParentTeen Matters e-newsletter in addition to The SADDvocate by clicking the "Update Profile/E-Mail Address" link at the bottom of this newsletter and confirming your e-mail address. You'll receive an e-mail with a link to change your subscriptions - then just make sure both The SADDvocate and ParentTeen Matters boxes are checked, and click "save." Too complicated? Just reply to this newsletter with a request to receive the ParentTeen Matters e-newsletter and we'll do it for you!
|
| Programs and Resources
| Is bullying a problem in your school? If so, you're not alone. The problem is growing, but the solution lies within you. You're passionate, dedicated, and empowered, and your SADD chapter can take the lead in making your school and community a safer, happier place for everyone.
 October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and we're excited to introduce a new Web-based Bullying Prevention Resource Kit your chapter can use to address this important issue. You'll find the best resources we gathered from our network and our friends and partners - it's packed with ideas for activities you can use this month - or turn into a full-year effort. Click here to view the kit.
 One anti-bullying activity many SADD chapters participate in is Mix It Up at Lunch Day. On this day (scheduled for November 9 this year), students are "mixed up" by sitting with other students at lunch whom they might not usually interact with. The idea is to break down social boundaries and cliques and improve the school climate and reduce bullying. We encourage all SADD chapters to bring Mix It Up at Lunch Day to your school. Click here to learn more - and make sure to register your school on the map!
 Our friends at Above the Influence are asking you to tell them what positive and negative influences you see in your community and how you "stay above" the negative influences. Enter your contribution on their Heat Map, and if your city has the most activity, you'll win a special cool promotional event for your city! Visit abovetheinfluence.com/heatmap to add your information today.
 Don't forget the first Drug Facts Week from November 8-14. Sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the former Drug Facts Day has been expanded into an entire week, and there are extensive planning materials to help your chapter host an event - click here to learn more!
|
| Chapter Toolbox |
 Each month, a member of SADD National's Student Leadership Council (SLC) will write a column designed to help chapters with useful activity ideas, meeting suggestions, and more.
 Bonjour, SADD students and advisors! I'm Jamie Eastman, Executive Council member of the SLC. I attend college in my home state at the University of Vermont (UVM), where I am a Nursing major with the hopes of one day becoming a helicopter Flight Nurse.
You may have noticed above that October is Bullying Prevention Month. We also wanted to make sure you noticed that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) as well. This is a topic that may not get as much attention as other issues SADD chapters address, but it's important not to overlook it, because teen dating violence is a form of domestic violence that's present in many schools.
Here at UVM we have a special program called "Think ... Act ... Care" to help call attention to the issue and encourage bystanders to get involved if they see signs of domestic violence. One simple part of this project is posting fliers around campus designed to clear up misconceptions about consent and assault.
 The Domestic Violence Awareness Project coordinates DVAM, and you can find plenty of useful resources on their website. Click here to learn more. SADD also helped the Ad Council promote their "That's Not Cool" dating violence prevention campaign - check out thatsnotcool.com.
We hope you'll keep domestic/dating violence on your chapter's radar screen.
|
| SADD Speaker Series - Now Booking!
|  As you plan school events this year, consider hosting Stephen Wallace, SADD Chairman and CEO and nationally recognized youth advocate for any one of the popular SADD Speaker Series presentations. Stephen speaks to schools, groups, organizations, and communities across the country. His dynamic presentations regarding youth development and decision-making address multiple audiences, including faculty, students, parents, health care providers, law enforcement officials, and camp professionals. The most sought-after programs are Family Focus and Parent Power; some schools take advantage of the special fee discount offered when booking both back-to-back. Here's what people are saying about Stephen's presentations: Stephen Wallace's extensive experience with teenagers helps him speak candidly, share his convictions, and challenge both students and their parents to consider the decisions they make. His presentations spark open, sometimes difficult but always necessary, conversations both at home and within the school community. - Teacher, Buckingham Browne & Nichols School, Mass.
To learn more about Stephen's availability this fall/winter or to plan for the upcoming Prom season, contact Nicole Cheschi toll-free at 1-877-SADD-INC (723-3462), ext. 222, or at ncheschi@sadd.org. Ask about using Stephen's book, Reality Gap: Alcohol, Drugs, and Sex--What Parents Don't Know and Teens Aren't Telling as a fund-raiser at your event.
|
| SADD Store - Promotional Product SALE |  Recruiting new students? Planning your Red Ribbon Week program? Looking for fun fund-raisers to support your chapter activities? Need some cool programming ideas for the year ahead? Take advantage of the great deals SADD National can give you on existing promotional products!
Red Ribbon items - banner, table tents, ribbons, and balloons - are being sold individually or packaged in a kit. SADD's popular emPOWERed wristbands, "Friends for Life" bracelets, and attitudes for living bracelets are especially affordable for use in fund-raising, as raffle prizes, or fun giveaways to motivate or reward new chapter participants. The SADD Manual is a great resource for your chapter's success - 225 pages brimming with activity ideas, icebreakers, prevention campaigns, tips for communicating with your media and legislators, and much more! Contact Nicole Cheschi at SADD National to help meet your promotional product needs. We're also working with our new vendor (look for our new Web store coming soon!) to help with t-shirt orders. Contact Nicole toll-free at 1-877-SADD-INC (723-3462), ext. 222 or at ncheschi@sadd.org to order today!
|
|
