Natrona County Prevention Coalition
October 1, 2019 Time: 1:00-2:00 p.m. Place: Oil and Gas Building @ 2211 King Blvd
Minutes from September 2019 approved- Brittlynn Bulgrin, 2nd by Cori Costner-Burton (none opposed)
New Business
Ø Vaping: Vaping has become a huge topic, impacting many policies and procedures. CWCC is in the process of changing its policies regarding finding vape pens/mods on adolescents in their residential unit. Currently a minor with a vape is an automatic removal from the program. They are finding vapes all too often, and many youth who need treatment are not able to stay because of the current policy. CWCC is also looking at vaping curriculums to incorporate into their programs. Catch My Breath, an evidence based vaping curriculum, was mentioned as being one option suggested by the health department. Mercer FRC’s tobacco education also incorporates vaping prevention for teens. At YCC they are finding vapes on a weekly basis. Their current policy is if it is found on the group home side, law enforcement is called and youth receive an MIP ticket. On the crisis side, law enforcement usually is unable to do much because the tank/liquid hold part is usually empty. Youth as young as elementary age have been caught with a vape.
Ø Bill Watch: Committees are already meeting for 2020 session. The Joint Revenue Committee is looking at bills that will raise taxes on all nicotine, including vape products; including a penalty for providing to minors; taking steps to address unregulated vaping liquid prevention to ensure quality of liquid and public health; and increasing the nicotine age to 19. A group called Voices Against Opioid Choices are also petitioning to get non-opioid options in the operating room covered by Medicaid and Medicare. Cheyenne recently added vapes to their tobacco ordinance, which is something we could look at encouraging here, but more cultural and community readiness needs to take place first.
Ø NCPC Overview Statement: in the corner of each NCPC agenda is an overview of our goals as a coalition. The by-laws of NCPC are currently outdated, as they were written with the formation of NCPC in 2002. There was discussion around if we need by-laws or not, and all voted that we do not need by-laws because we have a strong mission statement and a collective culture that changes as our community needs change. You can find our mission statement under our logo on the agenda.
Subcommittee & Strategies Report:
Ø Family and Parenting: Family Game Night will be February 21st from 5:30-7pm in the Evansville Community Center. There will be a clue themed scavenger hunt, and everyone is welcome to dress up as their favorite clue character. Toytown has already donated 2 huge boxes of games. There will be a light dinner/soup served. The holiday drive will kick off around Black Friday. Used games can be donated; they will be used as games families can play that night. Family and Parenting will not have an October meeting (due to Dancing with the Stars) or a November meeting (due to Thanksgiving), but they will have a meeting in December, it will just be 1 week earlier than usual.
Ø YEC: Current initiatives- Suicide Prevention Awareness Team (SPAT) will travel to Newcastle to present at Freshmen Impact Day. On October 14th and 15th, youth will present SPAT to Dean Morgan
o #WYAMPLIFY event- Jump Craze October 15th from 6-8pm. For the first 30 youth to RSVP to Brittlynn
Ø 21st Century Community Learning Centers: Cohort 10 has closed. Sheena needs help with APAS observations if anyone is available. Susan and Brittlynn both expressed interest (thank you!).
o Science Zone: no update
o VIBES: 450 people attended the last artwalk where the Vibes Tribe kids performed onstage with Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband! The youth are continuing their mentorship with Ryan Shupe through skype calls with the band. Vibes TRIBE is still looking for students to enroll.
Ø Community Prevention Strategies Group: Vaping Discussions- NCSD presented last CPSG meeting. They are looking to bring a vaping curriculum to the schools. Tanya and Tom brought Safe-2-Tell promotional items for NCPC members. Everyone took some. Safe-3-Tell is for anyone, parents, community members and students. The call center is based in Cheyenne and all calls have follow up. Tanya and Tom will be providing stats from the calls in the near future. In NCPC today, Tom said there are as many disciplinary referrals from start of the year to today (Sept and Oct) as there were total at the end of last school year! A certain % of Safe-2-Tell reports are harassment/bullying. We will need to look to see if there is a false report category in the upcoming statistics. The number of false reports may be significant enough to impact the full report- more reports are NOT valid than are actually valid. Each report does go though a few levels before officers are dispatched. We hope to invite someone from Safe-2-Tell to a future meeting.
Monthly Member Spotlight: Rebekah Ladd with the Casper Police Department: Coffee with a Cop will take place at a few locations: Blue Ridge Coffee (6:30am – 7:30am), Casper College UU building (9am-10am) and Metro Coffee Co (5pm -6pm). Evansville is also doing one at It’s a Grind (7am – 8am). Shop with a Cop application will be sent out as soon as enrollment opens. This event is a partnership with CPD and Walmart. 60-80 gift cards are provided for law enforcement officers to walk with kids and shop with them, then they gift wrap their gifts to open on Christmas. They start by shopping for necessities (socks, undies, etc) and end with toys. Whitney mentioned we will be sure to get applications to Greta, the homeless liaison with the school district. The age of cutoff is 13, but they are still defining the guidelines for this year’s application.
Introductions &Announcements:
Present: Whitney Lamb (Mercer/NCPC Chair), Sheena Hixson (Mercer FRC-CCLC/SES/CT), Cori Costner-Burton (Mercer), Lisa Brown (Mercer FRC- Family and Parenting),Brittlyn Bulgrin (Mercer FRC- YEC/SPTF), Rebekah Ladd (CPD), Chief McPheters (CPD), John Becker (NCDO), Amanda Lewallen (BBBS), Chelsea Depalo-Lara (CC-Adult Learning Center), Amy Munsell (Vibes), Christi Parrish (WCCA), Andrea D’Onfrio (Safe Kids), Susan Buettgenback (PAT), Nicole Wilson (PAT), Paul Fritzler (DFS), Jean Davies (CPT), Bill Howell (CWCC), Lance Neiberger (NCSPTF), Chris Mahoney (WBI), Amanda Lewallen (BBBS), Pam Mann (YCC), Vanessa Miramontes (Workforce Center)
Announcements:
BBBS- Haunted house fliers handed out. The haunted house if a fundraiser asking for $5 donations and will be happening the weekend before and the week of Halloween. This is a scary-ish haunted house not for anyone under 3rd grade. Next Thursday there will be a beer and wine tasting at urban bottle from 6-8pm. BBBS is looking for more Bigs. Possibly some corporate based “lunch buddies.” Progressive youth is running 6 days a week and seeking community service opportunities. They are also seeking some immature rap artists.
CC Adult Learning Center- The next orientation for GED/Highschool equivalency is Tuesday October 15th and Wednesday October 23rd at 9am, 1pm and 6pm. Save the date- Thursday December 5th- Annual holiday open house (lunch is offered).
WCCA- The next start date for the academy is January 6th. They need to recruit 42 cadets. In January, they will need to recruit around 140 cadets. Once youth graduate, they get free ongoing training. They have 6 certification programs including OSHA, CPR, etc. Their last class of graduates found 100% placement in jobs! This program is highly successful!
Mercer FRC- Currently have office space for rent. Dancing with the Stars is October 26th. Details can be found at Mercercasper.com. For the testimonial video, Lisa is asking for people to write about how Mercer has given them hope and wants to take their picture for the board/video. NCPC members have a chance to write their message of hope after the meeting today. The next Social Emotional Skills class will start the 1st Wednesday of November. Corrective Thinking is currently being taught at NCSD’s Support Services/Suspension Lab class.
Safe Kids- Last Saturday was the busiest car seat check of the year! National Walk to School day will take place tomorrow from 8-8:45am. Officers will meet with kindergarteners during the school day, and kids walking to school to teach them about pedestrian safety. Clifford the Big Red Dog will be reading to kids as well!
NCSO- The Holiday DUI Campaign will kick off at WMC on November 20th at 11am. Look for an email invite to the event! No funds from the state are provided from now until New Years Eve. November 30th the NCSO will be part of the Christmas Parade and will be collecting candy for their parade float. Please bring any leftover Halloween candy for them to use.
PAT- This year their Roll and Read saw double the attendance from last year. Over 100 kids were served. They are already starting to plan next year’s event, which promotes literacy skills and physical recreation. They had cake walks, dances, and lots of fun. PAT still has a few openings and are taking referrals.
DFS- School is in session. No updates
CPT- The 2020 Meth conference will be April 8-9th at the Ramkota. Rose Fry is working on a grant to provide bikes to kids in DFS custody. Safe Kids offered to help with helmets if DFS would like them.
CWCC- no updates
CPD- This week there were a bunch of DUI crashes. Over 100% rise in DUIs from last year to this year, and over 118% increase in injury crashes. Nov and Dec are usually the highest months with alcohol crashes. If the trends stay where they have been all year, we will have 22 DUI crashes in one month. Chief McPheeters asks that we advocate at holiday parties to prevent drunk driving. 22.4% more traffic stops have happened lately in an effort to reverse the trends in DUI crashes. With such a significant spike in trends, Wyoming as a whole is going to see a significant increase on insurance premiums. The holiday anti-dui campaign this year’s theme is “Don’t go down that road.” The Alcohol Task Force is having a hard time getting a logo that shows the Saferide brand and mission. They want to use the new logo at their rebranding campaign kickoff. City council is taking input on speeds between downtown and WMC. There is a link online to give input. The 20mph speed limit was NOT recommended by CPD and accidents are actually up by 11% in that area. During recent observations, it is estimated that about 50% of the city’s population doesn’t wear seatbelts.
WBI- Evanston’s remodel has been completed, and WBI now has available beds as of today. To prevent suicide, be proactive. Anyone who is in need is welcome to stop by. The current trends still show that males around the age of 45 could use the most help.
YCC- Thankful Thursday November 7th is for YCC! Currently they are very busy with 6 staff and full beds. Their new wrap around program seems to be working really well.