About The Monadnock Youth Coalition
New Hampshire, and particularly the Monadnock Region have one of the highest National Alcohol consumption rates per capita, this includes our youth ages 12-17. We also know that with the popularity of products like Juul combined with the highly addictive nature of Nicotine as many as 1 out of every 3 Youth are using some type of e-cigarette product.
The Monadnock Youth Coalition...
Was established in 2020 in response to the coalitions primary goal of engaging our Youth in our community prevention efforts. The MYC is a youth group founded from the Keene Family YMCA Community Coalition that represents the Youth “voice “and helps prevent youth substance use in youth ages 11-17 in the Keene and Swanzey areas. This coalition stems a youth group that meets once a week. This Youth Group hosts events, conducts focus group discussions, and lends a youth focus to the issues affecting our community. This youth group will work towards educating peers and the community about youth substance use.
The History of The Monadnock Youth Coalition
The Y Coalition was organized in September 2018 after a number of incidents that involved teens in substance use situations. The culminating wake-up call was the overdose death of a 16 year old Keene youth. The local paper wrote an editorial asking the community, “What will be the response to this wake-up call?” In response, the CEO of the Keene Young Men’s Christian Association, more commonly known as the Keene Family YMCA, met with a number of community agencies and then committed the Y to the establishment of a coalition to address youth substance use. The Coalition applied for a Drug Free Communities grant which was awarded In October of 2019. The YMCA Community Coalition transformed into the Monadnock Youth Coalition where members in Keene and Swanzey help provide comprehensive prevention services and promote positive asset building activities in an effort to reduce youth substance use.
The Monadnock Youth Coalition is guided by the
7 Environmental Strategies for community change:
- PROVIDING INFORMATION
Educational presentations, workshops or other data presentations (e.g., public announcements, brochures, community meetings or social media) - BUILDING SKILLS
Workshops or other activities designed to increase the skills of participants, members and staff needed to achieve population-level
outcomes (e.g., training, technical assistance, distance learning, strategic planning retreats and curricula development) - PROVIDING SUPPORT
Creating opportunities to support people to participate in activities that reduce risk or enhance protection (e.g., providing alternative activities,
mentoring, referrals, support groups or clubs) - ENHANCING ACCESS/REDUCING BARRIERS
Improving systems and processes to increase the ease, ability and opportunity to utilize those systems and services (e.g., ensuring childcare, transportation, safety, special needs and cultural and language sensitivity) - CHANGING CONSEQUENCES (INCENTIVES/DISINCENTIVES)
Increasing or decreasing the probability of a specific behavior that reduces risk or enhances protection by altering the consequences for performing that behavior (e.g., increasing public recognition for deserved behavior, individual and business rewards, scholarships, citations, fines or revocations/loss of privileges) - PHYSICAL DESIGN
Changing the physical design or structure of the environment to reduce risk or enhance protection (e.g., parks, landscapes, signage, lighting or
outlet density) - MODIFYING/CHANGING POLICY
Formal change in written procedures, by-laws, proclamations, rules or laws with written documentation and/or voting procedures (e.g., workplace initiatives, law enforcement procedures and practices, public policy actions and systems change within government,
communities and organizations)
