OLYMPIA – When the Prevention Committee of the Governor’s Council on Substance Abuse convenes at 1:15 on May 1 at the Red Lion Inn in Wenatchee, they will hear from a variety of researchers and state agency program staff about successful strategies currently in use in Washington State to combat substance abuse.

A presentation from local prevention programs whose daily efforts are building safer and healthier communities in Chelan and Douglas Counties is expected to be the highlight of the afternoon.

"When the Council meets in Wenatchee this week, they will have the opportunity to see first-hand how efforts in Washington communities are successfully combating drug abuse" says Joel Thaut, Superintendent of Schools in Granite Falls and Chair of the Council’s Prevention Committee.

The Latino Youth Leadership Workshop is one such local community success story. Five years ago, Together for Drug Free Youth, with funding from Washington State Department of Health Tobacco Prevention and Control, began working with Wenatchee Valley College, Washington State Association of Community and Migrant Health, Skills Source, North Central Educational Service District, Columbia Valley Community Health, Children’s Home Society, and La Super Z radio station, to provide leadership training for Latino youth in Wenatchee and Eastmont School Districts.

This creative local partnership helped the Latino Youth Leadership Workshop provide young people with leadership and advocacy skills, and media literacy training to recognize how minority groups can be targeted by tobacco and alcohol advertising. Simultaneously, parents par

OLYMPIA – The Governor’s Council on Substance Abuse will meet from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on May 2 in the Chelan Room at the Red Lion Inn, 1225 N. Wenatchee Avenue. Members of the public are welcome to attend.

After the meeting opening and a welcome from Wenatchee Mayor Dennis Johnson, the council will hear project updates from the prevention, treatment, and law and justice committees followed by a legislative update covering the results of the recently concluded 2008 session of the Washington State Legislature.

The major agenda item for this meeting is a review of a proposed update to the Washington State Substance Abuse Prevention Plan, scheduled from 12:30 to 2 p.m..

Audience members are invited to share information with the council during a public comment period from 2:30 to 3 p.m..

The council prevention committee has been working with stakeholder groups across the state since June 2007 to develop recommendations for ways to improve coordination and cooperation among state agencies, and to strengthen partnerships with local communities to reduce the impacts of substance abuse in our state. This process has involved more than 500 citizens through a series of public meetings and workgroups. Proposed updates to the current plan include:

Developing common, community-level data elements to document the outcomes of prevention programs. 

Improving the use and availability of evidence-based prevention programs that address the cultural  considerations for each community.

Establishing ongoing training opportunities to improve and sustain the skills of paid staff and volunteers providing prevention services.

Improving efforts to provide resources and technology for effective community-based preventi