What do youth contribute to community and school ATOD prevention?

From its inception in the early 1980s until the late 1990s, California's Friday Night Live (FNL) statewide (56 counties) network of youth programs was singularly focused on preventing youth alcohol, tobacco, and drug (ATOD) use through education and by providing youth with alternative activities that do not involve substance use. In the late 1990s, the statewide model shifted from problem prevention to positive youth development. A strong body of evidence shows that providing young people with youth development supports and opportunities can help them avoid problems such as substance abuse, and attain positive and healthy outcomes in adolescence and adulthood. To accomplish its complementary goals of underage ATOD prevention and providing youth leadership opportunities that lead to positive outcomes, FNL engages young people across the state in environmental prevention strategies to change their schools and communities to address social norms and underage access to ATOD.

This presentation will examine the following question: What do youth contribute to community and school ATOD prevention? Specifically, the presentation will highlight the ATOD environmental strategies that youth have been engaged in across California over the past decade and emphasize: 1) the specific strategies implemented by youth; 2) how young people interact with adults in ATOD environmental work (ex. which strategies do youth groups implement relatively independently and for which strategies do they partner with existing community ATOD prevention coalitions?); and 3) what evidence is there that youth achieve community outcomes with their ATOD environmental prevention work?