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BRiDGES
BRiDGES: Madison County Council on
Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Inc., works
to improve the quality of life by providing
advocacy and services to the community, the
workplace, families and individuals affected
by addiction and the abuse of alcohol,
tobacco and other substances.
BRiDGES has been
the lead agency for Reality Check, a
statewide youth action movement that looks
at the manipulative tactics of tobacco
companies. In 2006, BRiDGES also started a
youth led initiative to raise awareness of
how alcohol is advertised to youth in
Madison County. This summer, Lea Furutani,
'10, will expand the scope of this
initiative with additional public
presentations, surveys of community opinion
and the development of school/community
partnerships to address the problem of
underage drinking and the environmental
influences of such behavior. Lea will help
the non-profit organize a youth leadership
summit in August of 2008. This summit will
be a two-day retreat focused on skill
development related to creating and
delivering focused presentations to key
community leaders and on action plan
development.
BRiDGES has hosted several Upstate Institute
fellows in previous years, including:
BRIDGES Teen Institute
Study, Spril 2005
Kristin Coomber, Meghan VanHorn, and Allison
Yelton
The BRiDGES: Madison County Council on
Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Teen
Institute is targeted at 16-18 year olds who
are identified as leaders in their
communities. The goal of the Institute is to
develop skills of high school students to
educate younger students about issues
related to substance abuse and healthy
choices. Institute
participants receive four
days of training in developing prevention
and resistance skills. Graduates then make
presentations to middle school students with
the goals of increasing knowledge about
issues related to substance abuse,
increasing the age of onset of alcohol,
tobacco and other drug use, and preventing
drug related infractions by middle school
students.
Kristin Coomber '06, Meghan VanHorn '06, and
Allison Yelton '06, worked with psychology
professor Doug Johnson to evaluate the
program. They used data gathered from
student surveys taken before and after
participation in the Institute. The Upstate
Fellows final report was presented to the
BRiDGES Board of Directors, and
recommendations made in the report will help
shape the future of the program. Van Horn
stated that “the project was beneficial to
the community and it was interesting to
analyze real world data that is pertinent to
the future of Madison County. I love
statistics and it was great to apply
statistical techniques that I have learned
over four years at Colgate to this project.
”
Tori Theisen, Summer 2005
During the
summer of 2005, Tori Theisen, '06, worked
with BRiDGES on four programs. For “Summer
Youth Employment” she created and
co-created presentations and power points
for the youth employed at Camp Lookout.
Every Wednesday for five weeks, she and Mo Campanie educated the youth on topics like
Leadership, Conflict Resolution, Goal
Setting, and Personal Choices: alcohol,
tobacco, and other drugs. On the fourth
week of the program, BRiDGES brought in
members of a halfway house in Oneida,
Maxwell House, to share their personal
experiences with substance abuse
in the hope that the youth would avoid the
same mistakes they made. And on the fifth
week, she attended BOCES on Friday in addition
to Camp Lookout, where myself and the other
presenters shared personal experiences
related to alcohol and drugs to connect with
the youth and leave a personal imprint along
with beneficial knowledge.
On
the other programs with which she assisted,
she said,
"I have enjoyed working
on Altered Books. For these 5 separate
location events, BRiDGES, the lead agency of
Madison County’s Promise, collected
discarded library books and turned them into
a crafty learning experience. After
screening out the inappropriate books, staff
‘prepped’ the old hardcover books by
stapling or gluing sections of pages
together and painting the accessible pages
different colors to make them an attractive
medium for children’s ideas. We then
brought the books to each scheduled event
and encouraged the attending children to
decorate the pages with magazine cut-outs,
stickers, writing, etc. on the themes of
America’s 5 promises: Healthy Start, Caring
Adults, Marketable Skills, Safe Places, and
Opportunities to Serve (which are also the
five tenets of Madison County’s Promise).
The kids really seemed to love creating
their own books!
Strengthening Families is an established
successful program created by Iowa State
University aimed at improving general
parenting practices, forming closer bonds
between parent and child, and providing
tools for both adult and youth to prevent
substance abuse. Bridges and Madison
County’s Promise offer this program a few
times each year to families in Madison
County. This summer, our 6 week session
began June 28th and has continued
each following Thursday for the 9 families
involved. I have been working with the
younger kids, reading stories and guiding
them to complete crafts that support the
issues being taught to their parents and
older siblings that same evening. At the
beginning of each night we open by having
dinner with all the families; and at the end
of the night, we close with a family circle
in which individuals are asked to express
positive things about their family. I will
only get to participate in 4 of the 6 weeks
of the program, but it has been nice to see
progress already!
One more program with which I have been
quite involved is Madison County’s Promise
“Hot Summer Learning” youth training day.
Taking place August 10th, this
event offers about 20 nominated youth the
opportunity to learn about topics like the
big tobacco media campaign, bullying,
healthy lifestyles, and basic substance
abuse facts. The day is composed of several
different presentations, and I have created
and will present one on healthy lifestyles
and choices. Our hope is that at the end of
this event, the youth will plan and create
their own substance-free event to host
within Madison County in the fall and
promote healthy living in their own
communities.
I didn’t really know what to
expect before I came to Hamilton, but
working for BRiDGES has been the most
inspiring and exciting summer job I have
ever had!"
Steve Hayden, 2006
Summer Field School
In
the summer of 2006, Steve Hayden '08
worked
with BRiDGES to
create a video about the use of alcohol
advertising and its impact on youth.
The video will be used for presentations
around the county and will be made available
to other organizations. He assisted
with research on the impact of alcohol
advertising on youth, which will accompany
the finished video.
Liz Harkins, 2007
Summer Field School
Liz Harkins, '09, expanded the
scope of the Reality Check program, which is
a statewide youth action movement that looks
at the manipulative tactics of tobacco
companies. The initiative involves a group
of students from six local high schools to
raise awareness of alcohol advertising in
Madison County. Liz worked with the
students involved to develop a media
presence for their initiative and developed
school and community partnerships to address
the problem of underage drinking and the
environmental influences on such behavior.
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