The Warwick Valley Prevention Coalition (WVPC) is working hard during these challenging times and continues to provide resources, free training and activities for all members of the community. The Coalition encourages everyone to utilize all the information they put out there by visiting their new website, warwicknyprevention.org, and to follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
In August the youth and Wickham Works created word art that spelled out the word “essential” and was displayed at the Warwick Community Center (WVCC) for a few weeks to show support to all the Essential Workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The combined efforts of the WVCC Youth Advisory Board and the WVPC Youth Task Force on this project, weaving old, cut-up t-shirts in and out of wire, resulted in a moving display showing the hard work of both groups. Along with this project the groups created and designed posters that were displayed in store front windows in town and a scavenger hunt was made to create foot traffic in all the local businesses to show support.
Public Service Announcement Commercials
The WVPC youth group has created numerous Public Service Announcement (PSA) Commercials, all of which can be found on the YouTube page – Warwick’s Ounce of Prevention. These commercials are designed to inform youth and community members about the dangers of youth substance misuse, abuse and prevention.
A few of these PSA’s were featured during Red Ribbon Week in October. Red Ribbon Week is designed to get people to collaborate and work on activities that will help rebuild a sense of community and common purpose nationwide. During the month of October, the youth also enjoyed making a drive-by Halloween display for the community at the WVCC as well as a family Jack O’ Lantern carving event.
Sticker Shock Campaigns
The WVPC has implemented three sticker shock campaigns since August in the Warwick and Orange County area. Sticker shocks initiatives are designed to be conversation starters between parents and children. These stickers have been placed on pizza boxes, to-go containers and beverages. In November, the Prevention Alliance of Orange County, of which WVPC is a member, held a countywide sticker shock event. Stickers with statistics about the number of DWIs during the holiday season were placed on alcohol sales beverages. This event got the attention of the Orange County District Attorney, and a press conference was held at the Orange County’s DA’s Office last November.
Building Relationships with Students
Francesca Bryson, the WVPC Coordinator, has recently teamed up with the Warwick Valley Middle School to effectively build relationships with their students. Together they designed and initiated a student discussion forum, where she explained to students what the coalition does and how they can get involved. Francesca also created an outlet for them where they actively partake in ice breaker games to get to know one another, followed by breakout rooms to be on a personal level. This gave the students a platform to talk openly and freely about guided topics.
The Warwick Valley Prevention Coalition is a group of concerned parents, youth and community partners working to reduce alcohol and marijuana abuse among youth and to prevent initiation into all drug use by encouraging wise and healthy choices by all community members. The Coalition meets the fourth Thursday of every month at 6:30 pm, currently online. For more information, contact Francesca Bryson at francesca.wvpc@gmail.com.
Warwick Valley Prevention Coalition Coordinator Francesca Bryson (left) is pictured with Corrine Iurato of Peck’s Wine & Spirits during the Coalition’s Sticker Shock campaign.
