Healthy Communities Healthy Kids Coalition

Healthy Communities Healthy Kids Coalition

Please Join Our Efforts

Healthy Communities-Healthy Kids Coalition receives check from the Killingworth Women’s Organization. (l-r) Andrea Schull and Joan Wilson (KWO) and Tanja Moriarty and Hilary Kumnick, Co-Chairs, Healthy Communities Healthy Kids Coalition

What is our mission?
The mission of the Healthy Communities Healthy Kids Coalition is to prevent and reduce substance abuse, other risky behavior, and, promote the wellness of our community.

What is the Healthy Communities Healthy Kids Coalition?
A group of community members formed this coalition (formerly the Prevention Council) in 1993 in response to the growing concern about the number of Haddam and Killingworth youth using and abusing alcohol and other drugs. A collaborative effort enhances and strengthens the process of identifying and addressing areas of concern.

Why was it created?

Cheryl Chandler accepts the donation from Artful Living's Chris Solimene and Big Director John Pike
Click to read full article

The towns of Haddam and Killingworth struggle with youth substance abuse. This continues to be an issue with all communities nationwide. The Healthy Communities-Healthy Kids (HC-HK) Coalition seeks to prevent and reduce substance abuse. The Coalition meets monthly and has had several working meetings where members break into small groups to analyze the local and national data, prioritize areas of concern and plan how they hope to address these areas.

Who is involved?
Representatives from all 12 sectors of the community are involved in coalition activities. They include youth; parents; the business community; media; school; youth serving organizations; law enforcement agencies; religious or fraternal organizations; civic and volunteer groups; healthcare professionals; state or local agencies with expertise in the field of substance abuse; and other organizations involved in reducing substance abuse.

Community Co-chairs
Volunteer Community Co-chairs

Hilary Kumnick, Catherine McGuire, Doug Sumner, Meghan Sumner, Matt Mcewen, Divinna Schmitt, Tanja Moriarty and Diane Stock
Click to read the article on 2008 awards

Hilary Kumnick of Killingworth
Currently also serving on the Killingworth Board of Finance
860-663-3624

Tanja Moriarty of Higganum
Former Haddam Selectwoman
860-345-8063

The Healthy Communities-Healthy Kids Coalition is a member of the Community Anti Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) http://cadca.org/

H-K Safe Home Pact

Get on the same page as your caring neighbors! Parents and guardians who sign H-K’s Safe Home Pact are pledging their homes will be places where young people will not have access to alcohol or other drugs, and that a responsible adult will properly supervise teen gatherings. More info...

Meeting Schedule 2009/2010

September 16, 2009 – HKHS
October 21, 2009 –HKHS
November 18, 2009 – HKMS
December 16, 2009 – HKHS
January 20, 2010 – HKHS
February 17, 2010 – HKHS
March 17, 2010 – HKMS
April 21, 2010 – HKHS
May 19, 2010 – HKHS
June 23, 2010 – The Daybreak Café
Please note: All meetings are at 8:00 am.

Amy Mueller, YFS Prevention Coordinator

The coalition is funded in part by grants from the following sources:

Drug Free Communities Support Program (DFC) which is a collaborative initiative sponsored by Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) www.ondcp.gov in partnership with Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) www.samhsa.gov

Local Prevention Council Grant: administered by the Middlesex County Substance Abuse Action Council (MCSAAC) www.mcsaac.org

Middlesex United Way Community Impact Grant www.middlesexunitedway.org

State Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) www.ct.gov/dmhas/site/default.asp

More information: Call Ann O'Mara at 345-7498

In a survey administered in May of 2006 (Search Institute* Survey, Profiles of Student Life Attitudes and Behaviors) to HK youth in grades 7-12, the following data was gathered:

The graph gives the 30-day use rates for alcohol/tobacco; 12-month use rate for marijuana for HK youth in grades 7-12:

	Alcohol	Tobacco	Marijuana
7th	16%	5%	7%
8th	20%	7%	11%
9th	41%	19%	24%
10th	41%	13%	26%
11th	50%	20%	42%
12th	54%	27%	37%
Overall percentage	37%	15%	24%

The HC-HK Coalition seeks to build developmental assets as a way to prevent and reduce substance abuse. Currently, youth reported having an average of 18 out of 40 developmental assets which puts them at risk for increased use/abuse of substances. According to the Search Institute, the more developmental assets a young person has, the less likely they are to engage in risky behaviors including substance abuse. The Coalition’s data supports that. The following graph uses local 30-day use rates of alcohol and tobacco as they relate to youth reports of assets:

	Number of Assets
	0-10 assets	11-20 assets	21-30 assets	31-40 assets
30-day use rate: alcohol	57%	42%	22%	2%
30-day use rate: tobacco	32%	18%	4%	0%

Youth reported having an average of 18 assets; this puts most of them in the 11-20 assets category in the graph above. The HC-HK coalition will work to build and increase assets by 5 over the next two years in order to bring the average number to 23, which will put most of the youth into the 21-30 assets column, where 30-day use rates for alcohol/tobacco are much lower.

http://www.search-institute.org/
Other helpful websites:
http://www.drugfree.org/
http://www.theantidrug.com/
http://mvparents.com

Home | Programs | Resources | News | About Us

© Youth and Family Services of Haddam-Killingworth, Inc.
P.O. Box 432, Higganum, CT 06441-0432
(860) 345-7498
Website maintained by PurpleDog