San Benito County welcomed Mary Ann Solberg, the Deputy Drug
Czar of the United States, who spoke about the importance of drug
prevention and awareness coalitions Tuesday.
Solberg, who was appointed by the United States Senate as the
deputy director to the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy in April 2002, spoke to an audience of about 30 community
leaders, youth and other invited guests at Paine’s Restaurant about
the power these coalitions have across America.
San Benito County welcomed Mary Ann Solberg, the Deputy Drug Czar of the United States, who spoke about the importance of drug prevention and awareness coalitions Tuesday.
Solberg, who was appointed by the United States Senate as the deputy director to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in April 2002, spoke to an audience of about 30 community leaders, youth and other invited guests at Paine’s Restaurant about the power these coalitions have across America.
“I really love to talk about the community coalitions because that’s what I believe in,” Solberg said. “It’s a program that really attempts to help communities.”
Solberg was attending the Building Bridges conference in San Jose, which promotes leadership to sponsor youth development, and wanted to visit a coalition in the area, said Lucia Aguilar-Navarro, community liaison for the San Benito Prevention Coalition.
“She heard we were doing really good things and wanted to meet with us,” Aguilar-Navarro said. “We’re very proud to be recognized on a national level and have her speak here.”
The San Benito coalition is in its fourth year, and its mission is to reduce substance abuse among the youth, Aguilar-Navarro said.
They offer different programs to help facilitate that mission, such as training teachers in the schools about substance abuse, programs to help parents communicate with their children and the San Benito Youth Council, which sponsors Friday Night Live.
Bringing people together and creating a unifying community spirit is what needs to happen to change the system, said Dan Fletcher, a federal liaison working with Solberg.
“Community coalitions bring people together to look one another in the eye and say this is my community, what can we do?” Fletcher said. “It takes an ongoing, long-term commitment.”
This commitment is what communities must have to create change, Solberg said.
“We are changing norms, community by community, around drug abuse prevention,” Solberg said. “You change norms with multiple strategies over multiple sectors.”
Solberg championed San Benito High School District Superintendent Jean Burns Slater and Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller for working together to disseminate the anti-drug message to the youth of the county, as well as local parents.
On Oct. 23, the schools are working with the Hollister Police Department and the San Benito County Probation Department to put on a drug prevention and awareness night, to which Solberg questioned Burns Slater on the perceived attendance and how interested this community is on the subject.
“I will admit the people who most often attend are families who feel pretty confident of what they’re doing and it’s more affirming to them,” Burns Slater told Solberg during her speech. “So usually we have a low turnout.”
The coalitions are important in getting the message out to a community that has a hard time getting involved by pushing three important factors, Solberg said.
First, youth rise to the level expected of them.
“Every community that demands from their young people get exactly what they demand,” she said. “If they demand achievement, they get it.”
Secondly, young people need constant messages over time from every sector of the community. In a society where America’s youth are constantly bombarded with media images and advertising promoting drugs and alcohol, the message must be made clear that drug prevention and awareness starts at home and then be implemented in other parts of society, she said.
Lastly, and most importantly, youth behavior can not be changed until you first address adult behavior. Coalitions that bring together all sectors of the community to work together, to slowly change the way people think and act, are the ones which make a difference, she said.
“When you empower youth, they answer,” Solberg said. “Young people in this world, you have power, you are a change agent and you are our future.”
