EMPOWER COALITION

MCSAP Coalition is a group of community members, family, neighbors, and coworkers who work together to prevent underage use and abuse of marijuana, tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs in Martin County in southern Minnesota. MCSAP primarily works to share resources, ideas, and information to raise community awareness in order to promote prevention. MCSAP youth volunteer at the 2022 Elf Shop at Fairmont Elementary

We've been around since 2011, and some of the successes we've had include: 

1. implementation of responsible beverage-server training, 
2. providing comprehensive prevention curriculum in all area high schools and many of the upper elementary schools, and 
3. seeing a significant reduction in alcohol and cigarette use by youth. 

Some of the challenges we face are: 

1. educating the community on the dangers of marijuana use on still-developing brains, Empower students attend Youth Day at the Capitol in Spring 2023 to educate lawmakers on the dangers of vaping.
   
   
   
2. familiarizing students with healthy coping techniques and identifying their "natural high" gained from other activities, and 
3. helping parents identify the signs of substance misuse by their children.

Some of the tools we use to promote prevention include: 

1. providing prevention information to community members and elected officials on all levels and advocating for policy changes,Area Empower students attend a countywide bowling night. Empower groups are the student arm of the MCSAP Coalition.
2. changing the environment students are in with things like posting "no vaping" signs, removing substance marketing from places easily seen by youth, and
3. working with community partners to implement change. Some of those partners are: students, parents, local law enforcement agencies, schools, businesses, area newspapers and radio stations, other nonprofits and civic groups, youth-serving organizations, churches, government officials, and other prevention-focused agencies. 

It is because we have a strong coalition that we have seen the successes we have had! Thank you for joining that alliance!