The Blanco Coalition on Awareness, Prevention and Treatment of Substance’s grant through the Drug Free Communities Support Program was recently reauthorized.
The grant provides up to $125,000 over a five-year period. CoAPT was originally awarded the grant in 2016. The funding comes from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) Drug-Free Communities Support Program, which U.S. Sen. John Cornyn recently reauthorized through the Substance Abuse Prevention Act earlier this month.
The focus of the grant is youth substance use prevention and combating opioid abuse.
“This grant will support key steps in protecting young Texans from the dangers of substance abuse,” said Cornyn. “I’m glad to help communities in Blanco invest in the futures of young residents and take an active role in our next generation’s health.”
The coalition is entering the final year for this grant cycle and participation from all sectors of the community is important.
“CoAPT is made up of 12 sectors from the community: youth, parents, law enforcement, religious organizations, businesses, civic and volunteer groups, media, schools, healthcare professionals, elected officials, state and local government, substance abuse organizations, and youth-serving agencies,” states the organization’s website.
Blanco CoAPT met for its regular meeting Sept. 16. Members were encouraged to bring a friend to the October meeting. The recruitment team will begin meeting to help increase membership and encourages anyone to contact Amber Corder if one is interested in becoming involved with CoAPT.
Next month’s meeting will be held at 9 a.m. instead of 11:30 a.m. to encourage more attendance and not interfere with lunchtime. All volunteer hours need to be submitted so that the match budget can be closed out for Year 4. A brief discussion took place regarding reapplying for the grant for years six through ten.
Next, Corder went over the Hidden in Plain Sight PowerPoint presentation and she explained that a group of teachers went through the training already. The idea is to help teachers and parents recognize everyday items that can actually be indicators of drug use or other uses. School Resource Officer Steve Harris is coordinating a Shattered Dreams event with the Police Department, EMS, and other community partners including CoAPT.
Corder updated the coalition members on the new vaping rules at the school. When a student is caught with a vape, he or she will be given the option to have two days suspension or the student can have a lesser punishment and have one day suspension and meet with Corder two times for screening and educational resources. A more intense educational program called Intervention for Nicotine Dependence: Education, Prevention, Tobacco and Health (INDEPTH) is being looked into for students to attend after a second offense. INDEPTH “is a new, convenient alternative to suspension or citation that helps schools and communities address the teen vaping problem in a more supportive way,” states lung.org. Vape sensors are being looked into to help eliminate vaping at the high school.
Corder spoke about the stick shock campaigns. She asked for help to finish putting stickers on the concession stand items for the upcoming sporting events. The community wide sticker shock campaign which is where volunteers put stickers on the beer boxes around town will begin shortly with the goal to complete before Homecoming. The stickers raise awareness about buying alcohol for minors. The students will not be helping this time but hopefully will be able to participate in the spring campaign. The coalition members discussed having an alcohol and drug free event in the fall and a subcommittee will be formed to begin plans. The meeting was adjourned at 12:25 p.m.
