Santa Barbara Fighting Back Coalition to Present at National Substance Abuse Prevention Conference

CADCA’s National Leadership Forum is the nation’s largest training for substance abuse prevention and treatment professionals and researchers. Penny Jenkins, Director of Santa Barbara’s Fighting Back (FB), will present a workshop with Shereen Khatapoush, FB’s Youth Services Director, on the necessity of advocacy and public policy to eliminate marijuana dispensaries.

Besides sharing their knowledge and learning new strategies from other substance abuse professionals, the coalition will also have the opportunity to meet and brief Senators and members of Congress from their state during CADCA’s Capitol Hill Day.

“We are so excited to be able to spend a week in our nation’s Capitol, learning and honing our prevention skills so our community can be a better place…one that doesn’t suffer from the harms of drug and alcohol abuse,” said Penny Jenkins. “We hope to come back reenergized, with new strategies under our belt to tackle drug abuse in Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, and Goleta.”

Santa Barbara FB has recently worked on banning marijuana dispensaries and providing prevention and counseling about alcohol and drugs to elementary age youth though mentoring relationships. Juliana Lee, the FB Mentor Coordinator, has also been selected to present at the conference. She will focus on using online resources to market and recruit mentors for at-risk youth, as an early prevention effort.

CADCA’s National Leadership Forum features more than 100 training courses to help community and state leaders prevent and reduce substance abuse and its related problems. CADCA is the national membership organization representing more than 5,000 coalitions and affiliates working to make America’s communities safe, healthy and drug-free. CADCA’s mission is to strengthen the capacity of community coalitions by providing technical assistance and training, public policy advocacy, media strategies and marketing programs, conferences, and special events. Learn more at: www.cadca.org.