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Five Town Communities That Care
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January 22, 2010 Executive Director's Update
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Vol 2, Issue 3
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Greetings!
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It was a rough start to the week, learning of the loss of Molly Fitch who has been an active volunteer for The Teen Center, and the suicide of Rockland teen Joshua Greiner. My heart goes out to their families and friends.
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-->Please note that you may use SKYPE to join any meetings that are held at the CTC office if you are unable to travel. Just arrange to do so in advance!
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Important Dates
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Thursday, Jan 28th:
Coalition Meeting: 11:30 -1:00PM @ The Teen Center
Friday, Jan 29th:
Funding Work Group Meeting: 11:00AM
Saturday January 30
WinterFest Ice Carving Exhibition: 11:30 - 3:30pm in the Camden Amphitheatre |
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Conferences in April
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I will be part of a panel (with J. David Hawkins and Blair Brooke-Weiss) at the BluePrints Conference in San Antonio, TX (April 7-9). This might be a great conference for someone to join me at. Take a look at the conference site and let me know if you are interested in attending. --------------------------------
I will also be presenting with Dr. Tony Biglan at the NIDA Blending Conference in Albuquerque, NM on April 22-23. The conference is the National Institutes on Drug Abuse's signature conference and will be focusing on evidence-based practice in diverse settings. The conference pairs a researcher and a practioner (thus "blending" theory and practice) and has them co-present on a topic. Dr. Biglan and I will be talking about school settings. --------------------------------
The Coalition for Juvenile Justice (CJJ) is seeking presentation
proposals for its April 9-13, 2010, national conference, "Ensuring
School Engagement and Success for Youth at Risk." The conference will
take place in downtown Washington, DC. I was thinking that our Mentors
Program would be a great topic. We may want to wait until we get it
funded again, though... |
FTCTC Invited to Participate in SuperBowl Survey with Drug Free Action Alliance
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Kim Grinnell was the only person to express interest in helping with the SuperBowl Survey. In order to get involved, Kim would need another volunteer willing to do the pre-communication with the schools and set up the logistics for how it would be delivered during the school days. Kim would make copies of the surveys, deliver the surveys to the schools before the event, collect the surveys from the schools, tally them, and submit the data to the Drug Free Action Alliance. The deadline for us to decide whether to do this or not is fast upon us, as the SuperBowl is on February 7th and the survey would happen on the 8th. If you are willing call me or email Kim ASAP!
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DFC News
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The Year Three DFC application is due in February. I will need the Board to read the plan and budget carefully before it is submitted. Be on the lookout for it! Also, if I have asked your WORKGROUPS to provide materials related to the YEAR TWO work, please get those to me ASAP.
Please remember to log your volunteer hours! We need to make sure we those documented each month. If you need new log sheets, let me know.
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MYDAUS ---> MIYHS
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You may recall that some time ago we testified before the legislature during hearings on a bill to make the measurement of risk and protective factors mandatory on Maine's biennial survey of students (formerly the MYDAUS, now the MIYHS, or Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey). Because restraints on numbers of questions rule out including all of the risk and protective factor data on the MIYHS that was available on the MYDAUS, the Maine Office of Substance Abuse and the Maine CDC have been working on way for schools to request an optional module that measures risk and protective factors not on the new integrated survey. They have actually reached a point where they have been able to put a pricetag on what it would cost Maine to offer this module (just under $6K) and are seeking alternative ways to fund it. I will keep you posted as I hear more.
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Article Headline
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As of this cycle, the saturation rates for STAR are outstanding! With one more cycle to go this year, we have served 35% of all 8th graders, 79% of all 7th graders, 50 of all 6th graders, and 36% of all 5th graders with at least once cycle of STAR. For the entire middle school population combined, that gives us an overall saturation of 49% of that population. Can you say WOW?
AVS leads the schools in overall saturation of the middle schoolers--86% have been in STAR. We have achieved 69% at HES, 51% at LCS, and 40% at CRMS. This is obviously a strong contributor to our success at inching the protective factor of Community Recognition of ProSocial Behavior up to 54% in 2008 for grade 8th students (from 43% in 2004).
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UW Connections
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I participated in a conference call with Blair Brook-Weiss of SDRG and other CTC Coordinators from the CYDS community on Thursday. Folks from Toole and Brigham City, UT; Port Angeles and Quincy, WA; Hays, KS; and Old Town, ME joined us on the call. We talked about some recent "wins" in each of the communities, self-care for Coordinators, and the upcoming BluePrints Conference. We will have another call in early March.
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Quick Updates
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-->The FTCTC Coalition Maintenance Work Group met on Tuesday. They have scheduled a refresher CTC training for the work group next month. This is a great idea that others may want to think about. It has been quite a while since we had any refresher trainings and it may help to refocus your work groups a bit. The group is also developing a tri-fold flyer that helps explain the different levels of involvement possible in the CTC volunteer structure (Coalition, Work Group, and Board membership). The final draft should be ready for everyone to see soon.
-->Board Vice-Chair Lisa Ettinger traveled to Portland on Friday to attend a workshop on how to apply for the Governor's Award for NonProfit Excellence. I will be working with her to develop our application.
--> We have still not received our updated Charitable Solicitations License, although the renewal application was filed on time and the check has been cashed. I will keep my eye out for the actual renewal license in the mail.
--> I sent an official request for an application to UMCC. Organizations have to request an application, which should arrive soon.
--> I am working on an amendment to our Conflict of Interest Policy which will include the provisions dealing with employment of relatives of staff or Board members and the exclusion which will allow us to have Ken set up the retirement plan for us. By the way, all staff and Board members should sign a copy of the COI each year. If you haven't, see me!
--> We received two donations through our listing on the Rockport property tax bills (for a total of $45). Peter has sent thank-you cards to the donors.
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CESAR FAX |
U.S. High School Seniors' Perception of Harm from Regular Marijuana Use Decreasing
Twelfth graders' perceived risk of harm from regular marijuana use has declined in recent years,
according to data from the national Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey. In 2008 and 2009, 52% of U.S. high school seniors thought that there was a great risk of harm from smoking marijuana
regularly, down from 58% in 2006. Previous MTF data show that as perceived risk decreases, use
increases (see figure below). While the percentage of 12thgraders reporting that they used marijuana in the past month has increased only slightly (from 18% in 2006 to 21% in 2009), MTF researcher Lloyd Johnston notes that "the upward trending of the past two or three years stands in stark contrast to the steady decline that preceded it for nearly a decade" (p. 1). Similar decreases in perceived harm from marijuana use have been seen among 8thand 10thgrade students. These findings illustrate the importance of continuing to present realistic information about the risks and consequences of marijuana use to youth.
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I am looking forward to spending some time with my daughter Deanne this weekend...she is coming home from NYC for a quick visit! It has been interesting to watch her both struggle and blossom as she has taken on the internship with the New York Theatre Workshop. Special thanks to Peter Russell for his constant encouragement of Deanne through FaceBook!
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Dalene Dutton
Executive Director
Five Town Communities That Care
219 Meadow Street, P.O. Box 1135
Rockport, ME 04856
www.fivetownctc.org
dalene@fivetownctc.org Office: (207) 236-9800 Cell: (207) 322-9262
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