Red Ribbon Week: Take a Stand to Keep Our Kids Safe From Drugs
The Kodiak Area Native Association’s Prevention Program invites you to participate in Red Ribbon Week®, a national campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of substance abuse and addiction, held annually near the end of October.
This year, Red Ribbon Week® is from Sunday, October 23rd through Monday, October 31st. Red Ribbon Week® is designed to be a week of positivity, fun, and education to make sure that our kids are kept safe and know what they need to so they can make good decisions. Red Ribbon Week is also for people and communities to unite and take a visible stand against drugs. National Red Ribbon Week Celebration helps communities come together to keep children, families and communities safe, healthy and drug-free.
This year’s theme is YOLO. Be Drug Free.® Visit www.redribbon.org to learn more about Red Ribbon Week® and get tips for talking to your kids about drugs. Children of parents who talk to their teens regularly about drugs are 42% less likely to use drugs than those who don’t; yet, only a quarter of teens report having these conversations.
Please consider joining the Red Ribbon Week® movement by wearing red throughout the week and signing the pledge to support awareness and education about drug abuse. Send us a picture of you with your pledge! We’re compiling photos of people in our community who are taking a stand.
Please contact us for more information about prevention efforts in our community.
Positive Youth Pathways | Sun’arausqat Katurgwiat – “The Young People’s Gathering Place” Offers Opportunities to Youth, November 1-5, 2016
The Kodiak Area Native Association Community Services Department is leading the planning of a four-day youth event, Positive Youth Pathways, in November through a grant received from the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. The project goal is to reach out to youth in the outlying villages and in the City of Kodiak through activities that will guide them as they begin to plan life after high school. The project has initiated the development of a Transitional Age Youth (TAY) Coalition, fortifying our collaborative efforts with others in the community and ensuring a successful regional event.
The TAY Coalition is working to ensure that our youth, with particular attention to our rural youth, are actively thinking about employment, self-employment, and either higher education or vocational education. KANA Community Services and Kodiak Island Borough School District staff will work with the youth in building a career and college portfolio for each student that will be used as a road map as they begin to develop a plan for after high school.
KANA will bring village youth to town for the event, and will spend two days exploring career and education options with them through various hands-on and observer events. The other two days of the event will feature the 3rd Annual Kodiak Island Scholarship Fair and Kodiak Career and College Fair with events that are free and open to the public.
- Youth Banquet for Registered Participants: 5 PM Wednesday, November 2nd | KANA/Koniag Near Island. This event includes a cultural presentation by special guest speaker Coyte Cooper.
- Kodiak Island Scholarship Fair: 7 PM Friday, November 4th | Kodiak College. Kodiak Island Scholarship Fair (KISF) is a coordinated, grass-roots effort of local organizations created to educate students and families about the numerous scholarships and financial aid opportunities available to Kodiak students.
- Kodiak Career & College Fair: 2 – 4 PM Saturday, November 5th | Kodiak High School Gym. Come explore potential employers and discover continued education and training options all in one place.
For more information or to preregister, please contact Mary Marsh, KANA Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, at 486-9842.
Local Environmental Observer Network Gets a Boost from the Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has entered an inter-agency agreement for the expansion of the Local Environmental Observers (LEO) Network program, a concept initiated and championed by ANTHC and Alaska Tribal communities. The EPA expansion will extend the LEO Network reach into the Lower 48 states. This expansion will develop a Lower 48 LEO network hub at Northwest Indian College in Bellingham, Washington and create a model for the other 35 tribal colleges and universities in the Lower 48 to replicate across the U.S.
The announcement was made at the White House Tribal Nations Conference in Washington, D.C in September as part of other initiatives to improve human health and the environment on Indian reservations and Tribal lands.
The LEO network is a network of local observers and topic experts who share on-the-ground knowledge about unusual animal, environmental and weather events. The network uses valuable traditional and local knowledge to help observe and report changes in the local environment. Available Android and iPhone mobile apps give users a powerful reporting tool to use in the field.
For more information, visit the LEO Network website at LEOnetwork.org and the EPA at https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-announces-initiatives-advance-tribal-sovereignty-expand-environmental-observer.
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