Adelante Juntos Coalition –> Drug-Free Community Support Program
Drug-Free Community Support Program
Contact: Charlene Pesquiera, MBA
Associate Director for Youth and Family Services
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: (520) 385-3028
| San Manuel Office 101 Avenue B San Manuel, AZ 85631 Phone: 520-385-3028 Fax: 520-385-3029 | Superior Office 199 Lobb Avenue, PO Box 276 Superior AZ 85273 Phone: 520-689-2985 |
The Drug-Free Community Support Program is managed from the San Manuel Office of Adelante Juntos Coalition. Adelante Juntos Coalition is a community coalition developed in 1991 with the main purpose of preventing substance abuse among youth in the mining communities of Gila and Pinal County.
The Drug-Free Community Support Program is in the fifth year and is funded by a grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The project assists youth in understanding and analyzing media as a prevention strategy and helps youth to build cultural awareness. For parents, the project assists them in finding ways to build stronger relationships with their children as a way to prevent the child’s use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
The Program serves youth and parents with the following programs:
- The Media Literacy Program educates youth to become critical consumers of drug-related media. Participants are introduced to media personnel and given the opportunity to learn how media is created and often given the opportunity to create their own anti-drug media messages.
- The Strengthening Families Program is for parents of children ages 8-14. Parents meet one night a week, have dinner and are introduced to positive disciplining techniques and communication skills to assist in creating a strong bond with their children that will in turn prevent the child’s use of drugs.
The coalition collaborates with other community agencies and program participants to develop and provide nine culturally specific alternative activities that are free of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. This year’s drug-free activities include: Cinco de Mayo celebration in Superior, AZ, Christmas and Halloween activities. All program and activities are continually evaluated for effectiveness.
