Two Angelina County youth serving on the Youth Leadership Council for Texans for Safe & Drug-Free Youth recently attended Advocacy Day in Austin. Texans for Safe & Drug-Free Youth is the statewide coalition focused on alcohol, tobacco and marijuana prevention for youth, and its Youth Leadership Council members work closely with local coalitions to create community change for youth prevention. Cameron Headly, Central High School, and Savanna Soverns, Pineywoods Community Academy, received information on a range of topics specific to youth prevention: restricting alcohol access, cannabis derived products, and tobacco prevention policies. Texans for Safe & Drug-Free Youth trained on how to talk to elected officials regarding these topics and helped the youth role-play different scenarios. In the afternoon, the students went to the Texas Capitol and met with Representative Trent Ashby and the staff of Senator Robert Nichols. The students shared what they learned about the dangers of substance use by youth, prevention measures to implement to reduce access, and ways to prevent youth tobacco use, including additional funding for prevention. Thank you to Representative Ashby and Senator Nichols’ staff for meeting with the Youth Leadership Council members and listening to the issues that youth in our community face regarding tobacco and alcohol.
Since 1988, The Coalition has focused on eliminating the use of harmful substances by affecting public policy, laws, attitudes, and behaviors, all to foster healthy life-long choices for the local community. For more information on the dangers of youth substance use or the Youth Leadership Council program, contact Abby Baker at The Coalition at 936-634-9308.
