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Back to School Activities

It’s 3pm on a school day. Do you know where your children are?

As summer vacations end and students start a new school year, here are a few reasons you should encourage them to get involved with after-school activities:

• Children & teens are more likely to be the victims of crime during the after-school hours than at any other time.

• Children & teens are more likely to participate in violent crimes during the after-school hours than at any other time.

• Children & teens are more likely to engage in risky behaviors such as tobacco, alcohol or drug use or sexual activity during the after-school hours than at any other time.

Courtesy National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center

Our young children often attend after school daycare or programs provided by their elementary schools, but by the time children reach middle school they are often left on their own after school.  It seems sensible enough. They are old enough to get their own snacks and open their books to complete their homework. They know who to call if they have an emergency. However, adolescents benefit from after-school activities and supervision, too. 

Youth who spend only a couple of hours per week in extracurricular after-school activities are significantly less likely to drop out of school; become teen parents; or use tobacco, alcohol or drugs. Spending 5-19 hours per week in after-school activities reduced the risk even further. 

It is important that these activities are not just time wasters, but are programs that help youth develop skills and values and provide them with experiences that mean something to them.

It doesn't take a lot. Our schools and community offer a variety of after-school clubs, sports and activities. Encourage your children to find something that interests them and participate regularly.  If your student is in Grades 7-12 please have them check into the Youth Leadership Council that meets at the VBCCSD Middle/High School.  This is a group sponsored by the Van Buren County SAFE Coalition and works on leadership skills with the youth involved to address health, wellness, and substance abuse prevention in Van Buren County.  

For information about YLC and the coalition please contact the SAFE Coalition by phone at 319-293-3334 ext. 1017 or by email at safe.coalition@van-burencsd.org.

September is National Suicide Prevention Month

By Kim Torguson of the Action Alliance

The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (Action Alliance) – the nation’s public-private partnership championing suicide prevention as a national priority – and its partners, like the Van Buren County SAFE Coalition in Iowa, are coming together to inform the public about simple actions that can support someone in crisis and potentially help save a life. This September, during National Suicide Prevention Month and National Suicide Prevention Week, the Action Alliance is asking organizations to step up to educate the public about the role anyone, anywhere can play in being there for someone who is struggling or in crisis.

 Join the collective effort!

·       Promote the hashtag #BeThe1To when posting social media messages about being there

·       Visit our website to access information about our partner’s campaigns focused on being there for others

For more information on Suicide Prevention month please contact the SAFE Coalition at 319-293-3334 ext. 1017 or safe.coalition@van-burencsd.org or checkout the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention website: http://actionallianceforsuicideprevention.org/national-strategy-suicide-prevention-0

Resources for Parents

Are you a Van Buren County Parent who is in need of information on drug and alcohol misuse?  The SAFE Coalition is here to help you!  You can contact the SAFE office any time via phone 319-293-3334 ext. 1017 or by email – safe.coalition@van-burencsd.org.  

Currently the Coalition would like to share with you some of the online opportunities that are available for parents:

• Talk They Hear You: https://www.samhsa.gov/underage-drinking/mobile-application

• Institute for Behavior & Health: https://www.ibhinc.org/

• How to Talk about Marijuana: https://drugfree.org/article/how-to-talk-about-marijuana/

• Smart Approaches to Marijuana: https://learnaboutsam.org/

• Kevin Sabet on Marijuana: http://kevinsabet.com/

• Partnership for Drug Free Kids: https://drugfree.org/resources/

• Tobacco Free Kids: https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/

• National Institute on Drug Abuse: https://www.drugabuse.gov/

• National Institute on Drug Abuse – Marijuana: https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/marijuana

• Smoke Free: https://smokefree.gov/

• Easy to Read Drug Facts: https://easyread.drugabuse.gov/

• Family Checkup: Positive Parenting Prevents Drug Abuse: https://www.drugabuse.gov/family-checkup

• Family Resource Center: http://www.familyresourcectr.org/

• Stop Underage Drinking: https://www.samhsa.gov/iccpud

• Too Smart to Start: http://www.toosmarttostart.samhsa.gov/

Parents, family, and friends of teens please make sure to check out these sites or contact the Coalition for more information on issues that teens are facing today!  Van Buren County SAFE Coalition: 319-293-3334 ext. 1017 or safe.coalition@van-burencsd.org.

STOP Act Grant Awarded to the SAFE Coalition

The Van Buren County SAFE Coalition and Van Buren County Community School District has been awarded a grant from The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to STOP (Sober Truth on Preventing) Underage Drinking. The grant award was for $50,000 a year for 4 years beginning April 30, 2020. The program will work to make server trainings mandatory for every business that obtains a liquor license, provide 12 Merchant Alcohol Trainings (two trainings every other month), and will support the efforts of law enforcement to perform semi-annual compliance checks. The ultimate goal of these activities is to reduce the access to alcohol by underage youth and young adults, in turn reducing the number of youth and young adults who are using alcohol in the county. If you would like more information on the STOP Act Grant or any of the coalition’s activities please feel free to contact the SAFE Coalition at 319-293-3334 or safe.coalition@van-burencsd.org. 

Van Buren County IPFS Project Has Ended

The Van Buren County SAFE Coalition was awarded the Iowa Partnership for Success (IPFS) Grant in February 2015 to address underage drinking and underage binge drinking in Van Buren County.  The coalition completed the fifth year of this five year grant on September 29, 2019.  The Van Buren County SAFE Coalition’s IPFS project was funded by the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH), through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The coalition received a nine month extension (September 30, 2019—June 30, 2020) from IDPH funded through State of Iowa beer and liquor permit revenue to continue to address two of the IPFS strategies and two new strategies.  The coalition members chose to continue to address Alcohol Restrictions at Community Events at Privately Owned Facilities and Alcohol Restrictions in Public Places.  The two new strategies are a Media Campaign produced by IDPH “As You Age, THINK BEFORE YOU DRINK” to address the increase in deaths from alcohol use by people over 45; and to promote suicide prevention work in the county. 

During the nine month extension of the IPFS Project the coalition worked on implementing the four strategies it was funded to work on as follows:  

1) Alcohol Restrictions at Community Events at Privately Owned Facilities: The coalition worked with privately owned facilities to help them write, adopt, and implement newly written alcohol policies focused on the Best Practices for Alcohol Service at their location.  No new policies were put in place during the grant extension.  The coalition would recommend that all facilities in the county put into place a written alcohol restriction policy to help limit the access to alcohol by youth and young adults.  If you are interested you may contact the coalition office for more information. 

2) Alcohol Restrictions in Public Places: The coalition worked with city councils to help them write, adopt, and implement newly written alcohol policies focused on the Best Practices for Alcohol Service at their local parks and ball fields. The coalition worked cities to help them to implement these policies, but no new policies were put in place during the grant extension.  The coalition would recommend that all towns in the county put into place a written alcohol restriction policy for their community parks and ball fields to help limit access to alcohol by youth and young adults. 

3) Older Adult Drinking Prevention Media Campaign: The coalition worked with local media outlets to implement IDPH’s “As You Age, THINK BEFORE YOU DRINK” older adult drinking prevention media campaign.  The coalition utilized posters at the hospital and clinics, a billboard ad, newspaper ads, and radio ads to promote the campaign during the grant extension.  The coalition worked with local media outlets to ensure older adults were exposed to the media campaign. 

4) Adult Suicide Prevention: The coalition worked to increase the capacity of the county to address Adult Suicide Prevention.  The coalition worked to educate community members on the risk and signs of potential suicide in family members and friends.  The coalition provided the opportunity to community members to participate in the online START Suicide Prevention Training to train local community members and stakeholders in how to help prevent suicides in the county.  This opportunity is still available for community members.  Please contact the coalition office if you are interested.  The coalition members also worked to promote IDPH’s Your Life Iowa website (yourlifeiowa.org) and related resources.  This included articles and ads in the newspaper.   

For more information on the Van Buren County Partnership for Success work or the SAFE Coalition please contact the coalition at 319-293-3334 ext. 1017 or safe.coalition@van-burencsd.org.

Why Van Buren County Should Care About Having Drug-Free Workplaces

Drug-Free Workplaces are important because substance abuse in the workplace is a widespread problem.  Alcohol and other drug abuse is widespread in our society.  It affects us all in many ways.  Although national, state and local efforts have begun to show encouraging results, the problem of alcohol and other drug abuse remains a serious problem. 

Substance abusing employees often do not make good employees.  Studies show that, compared with non-substance abusers, they are more likely to change jobs frequently; be late to or absent from work; be less productive employees; be involved in a workplace accident and file a workers’ compensation claim. 

Workplace substance abuse can also have a serious effect on people other than the abuser.  For example, some studies suggest that working alongside a substance abuser can reduce non-abusers’ morale and productivity.  It also is quite common for substance abusing workers who are involved in workplace accidents to injure other people (rather than themselves), especially if they work in safety-sensitive industries, such as the transportation or construction industry. 

Employers who have implemented drug-free workplace programs have important experiences to share (Joel Bennett and Wayne E.K. Lehman. 2003. Preventing Workplace Substance Abuse: Beyond Drug Testing to Wellness. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.):

·    Employers with successful drug-free workplace programs report improvements in morale and productivity and decreases in absenteeism, accidents, downtime, turnover and theft.

·    Employers with longstanding programs report better health status among, and decreased use of medical benefits by, many employees and family members.

·    Some organizations with drug-free workplace programs qualify for incentives, such as decreased costs for workers’ compensation and other kinds of insurance. (U.S. Department of Labor. “Florida State Law: Drug Free Workplace Act.”)

·    Employers find that employees, employee representatives and unions often welcome drug-free workplace programs.  If employers do not have a program the employees may be wondering why.  (Robert R. Bonds and Effie Bastes. 1999. “A Peer-Professional Team Intervention Approach in the Treatment of Drug and Alcohol Problems in the Workplace.” Paper presented at the International Union of Railways World Conference on Occupational Health and Safety, September 23.)

The Van Buren County SAFE Coalition would like to encourage all Van Buren County residents, workers and businesses to find out the facts about Drug-Free Workplaces and be informed.  For more information please contact the SAFE Coalition at 319-293-3334 ext. 1017 or safe.coalition@van-burencsd.org.