Tri-Community of Berkley Huntington Woods and Oak Park Michigan, Inc.

We have two chapters of our YOU Youth Coalition at both Berkley and Oak Park High Schools.  We have meetings twice a month and an average attendance of 20 students at each meeting.  During the meetings, the young people are receiving leadership skill building including communication, decision making and public speaking skills, along with the latest information about various drugs and their effects and the best ways to convey that information to their peers.

This is an opportunity to bring together high school students from Berkley, Huntington Woods and Oak Park with city and community leaders.  They spend the day talking about the issues they see in their schools and communities and working on real solutions that can and are implemented.

We now have 3 social marketing campaigns that are in use.  Two were created by our youth ("Don't Ride Shotgun if the Driver is Loaded" and "Don't Let Your Dreams Go Up in Smoke.  Don't Smoke Weed." and one is designed to reach parents ("You Don't Have to Give Them Everything They Want.  Don't Provide Alcohol for Your Kids."  These have been very effective in getting our prevention messages out to key audiences.