Rapid City and Pennington County, South Dakota - City/County Alcohol and Drug Programs

Brenda Boetel, Director
City/County Alcohol and Drug Programs
725 N. LaCrosse, Suite 300
Rapid City, SD 57701
Phone: (605) 394-6128
Fax: (605) 394-6890
Map

E-mail CCADP

As CPN's we help assess each community's prevention needs relating to alcohol, drugs and violence. CPN's are members of community coalitions and are constantly planning and evaluating the community's needs to develop strategic plans to address issues.

Rapid City's A.S.A.P., Inc. (Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention) Coalition received a 10 year Drug Free Communities Grant that will end in October 2010. Many services were provided to the community under this grant. A.S.A.P. Inc. also has a STOP ACT Grant (Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking) that supplements the Drug Free Communities Grant. As CPN's we assist in the grant writing, community planning and development of the goals, objectives, and policies for these types of grants. In 2006 the Drug Free Communities Grant helped to pay for a Black Hills Community Needs Assessment Survey that was administered by the Chiesman Center for Democracy, this survey is scheduled to be administered again in the Fall of 2010. A committee was formed to help with the development of the questions that will be on the survey; as CPN's we actively serve on this committee.

CPN's also serve on the Boards of Directors for different groups, committees, and coalitions. Through these different roles and positions we assist in the planning and development of various activities these groups provide for the community.

The purpose of the Red Ribbon Campaign is to present a visible commitment to a safe, healthy and drug-free lifestyle. The campaign is designed to accomplish the following:

Red Ribbon Week began in 1988 in honor of DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) Agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, who was kidnapped and killed in Mexico in February of 1985. Assigned in Mexico, Agent Camarena had been investigating a multi-billion dollar drug trafficking operation. As he left his office one day, five men appeared at his side and shoved him into a car. One month later, Agent Camarena's tortured and badly-beaten body was found in a shallow grave 70 miles from Michoacan, Mexico.

Parents in Illinois and Virginia heard of the slaying and launched the first Red Ribbon Campaign as a statement that Americans were tired of the violence and destruction caused by drug and alcohol abuse. The week is marked by the wearing of a red ribbon to send the message: Live drug-free! Since that time, the Red Ribbon Campaign has earned Congressional proclamation and has become an annual event, reaching millions of Americans each year.

Events that take place in Rapid City every year for the Red Ribbon Campaign include, but are not limited to the following:

Candlelight Vigil: Different church youth groups throughout the city will come together to pay for those affected by drug abuse.

Dinosaur Tying: A huge Red Ribbon is tied on the dinosaur at Dinosaur Park located at 940 Skyline Drive. The huge ribbon is made and signed by students from various schools to show their commitment of being drug free.

The Mayor's Rally at Halley: The Rally occurs at Halley Park, located at 1515 West Boulevard. Red Ribbons are tied on the trees in the park by participants.

Decoration Day: Red Ribbons are displayed on cars, fences, windows, and trees at schools, businesses, hospitals, and homes. Schools also participate by decorating their building(s) and the decorations are judged by A.S.A.P. and Community members.

SD Natl. Guard Fly Over: Schools participate by creating a drug free message outdoors by using the students. SD Natl. Guard helicopter then takes an aerial picture of the school's drug free message and the winner is recognized.

Red Ribbon Billboard Unveiling: Students are asked to design a billboard that is then judged and if they win, the billboard is posted in the Rapid City area for a month. A celebration is held to unveil the billboard.

Red Ribbon Sobriety Walk: The walk starts and ends at Dakota Transitional Headstart, 612 Crazy Horse. For more information, call Rural America Initiatives at 605-341-3339. Red Ribbon Parade: The parade begins and ends at South Dakota Schools of Mines Campus.

A free luncheon is held after the parade for all the participants and it is open to the public. A ceremony is held and parade awards are announced and certificates are given to the winners.

City County Alcohol & Drug Programs has two Community Prevention Networkers (CPN's). Linda Colhoff-Glover can be reached at 605-394-6915 ext230 or colhoff@co.pennington.sd.us and Joni Trythall can be reached at ext211 or jonit@co.pennington.sd.us. South Dakota has a network of prevention professionals across the state which includes 22 Community Prevention Networkers and Certified Prevention Specialists. The South Dakota Prevention Network can be accessed through the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse website. There are also four Prevention Resource Centers which provide alcohol, tobacco, drug and violence prevention services, educational materials and serve as resources to the communities in South Dakota.

Prevention services in South Dakota operate under the IC & RC/AODA (International Certification & Reciprocity Consortium) Performance Domains. The International Certification & Reciprocity Consortium/Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse, Inc. (IC&RC) sets the international standards of practice in addiction counseling, prevention and clinical supervision through testing and credentialing of addiction professionals.

IC&RC and its members are committed to public protection through the establishment of quality, competency-based certification programs for professionals engaged in the prevention and treatment of addictions and related problems.

Education & Skill Development:
Community Prevention Networkers develop and deliver age appropriate alcohol, drug and violence educational presentations, assist other agencies, and provide prevention information and trainings to the community. Information is also made available by the prevention program via informational booths at the Rapid City Health Fair and the Central States Fair.

Researched based curriculum is provided when possible in the community. The Boys and Girls Club of the Black Hills located in Hill City is actively implementing a curriculum call SMART Moves. Smart Moves aims to provide young people with the knowledge, skills, self-esteem and peer support to help them achieve the following: 1) avoid using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs; 2) avoid involvement in other drug-related activities, such as drunk driving or drug trafficking; 3) postpone sexual activity. The program is intended primarily for young people ages 6 to 16 who are not actively involved in drugs or sexual activity or have only experimented with them. Although SMART Moves was originally designed for Boys and Girls Club members, it can easily be adapted for use by schools and other youth-serving organizations.

Rapid City and Hill City schools in Pennington County along with other Black Hills area communities are fortunate to have school based prevention services available through Lifeways, Inc. CCADP provides support and assistance to their programs whenever possible. For more information, please visit Lifeways website.

Community Organization
Part of good prevention programming involves knowing all aspects of the communities in which prevention services are provided. Knowing who the people are, what ethnicities and cultures are represented in those communities and what demographics are being serviced are all a big piece of prevention. Prevention Networkers must identify what the core values are in the communities that are being served, who the key community leaders are from all sectors and then engage them in prevention efforts. Many communities have prevention coalitions. CADCA (Community Antidrug Coalitions of America) defines prevention coalitions as a formal arrangement for collaboration between groups or sectors of a community, in which each group retains its identity but all members agree to work together toward a common goal of building a safe, healthy, and drug-free community. Coalitions are an integral component to a community's response to alcohol and drug problems. They build community capacity by encouraging local organizations to expand services, programs, or policies (i.e., organizational capacity).

Rapid City has numerous prevention coalitions that provide services and activities. One such coalition is A.S.A.P., Inc., which stands for Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention. A.S.A.P. is a non-profit, non-political coalition whose members come from all walks of life and they are committed to promoting a drug-free environment for youth in the Black Hills area. A.S.A.P. was named the Mayor's Anti-Drug Task Force for Rapid City in 1999. The mission of A.S.A.P., Inc. is to educate parents, youth and citizens of Rapid City about the dangers of alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse among children and adolescents. The main focus of this effort is providing prevention activities; such as the Red Ribbon Campaign held each October, the Youth to Youth Conference and the S.A.V.E. (Stand Against a Violent Environment) Conference and any other community prevention activities, which would provide information on substance abuse. For more information on A.S.A.P., please visit their website. Other prevention coalitions are: S.A.V.E. Rapid City (Stand Against a Violent Environment) and CCPC (Campuses Community Prevention Coalition) which includes SDSMT, WDT and NAU. CCADP Prevention Networkers are also actively involved in the fight against the growing epidemic of methamphetamine use with the Methamphetamine Awareness Prevention Project (MAPP). For more information visit, the MAPP-SD website. Each coalition has its own goals and objectives with the focus being alcohol, drugs and violence prevention issues.

Does prevention pay? Is the old expression "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" really accurate?

Effective substance abuse prevention is a very worthwhile investment. Research has found that the savings per dollar spent on research-based substance abuse prevention can be substantial. According to the U.S. Center on Substance Abuse Prevention, it is estimated that for every dollar spent on prevention, fifteen dollars is saved in future societal costs (i.e., health care, crime and employment). It can be proven that the level of community harm associated with substance abuse problems is inversely proportional to the number of people in that community who abuse substances. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University's research has shown that a child who reaches age 21 without smoking, abusing alcohol or using drugs is virtually certain never to do so.

By providing effective prevention education, programs and information to communities, Prevention First effects change within communities providing healthy alternatives to using substances.

South Dakota has a network of prevention professionals across the state which includes 22 Community Prevention Networkers and Certified Prevention Specialists. There are also four Prevention Resource Centers which provide alcohol, tobacco, drug and violence prevention services, educational materials and serve as resources to the communities in South Dakota. Quarterly meetings are held each year to bring everyone together to stay abreast of the newest information and trends by networking, sharing ideas, planning and holding workshops and trainings. We also provide local trainings and workshops many times bringing National speakers to our area as a service to the community.

When necessary CPN's help to identify issues and educate policy makers on such issues that may be important for public policy development or change. CADCA (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America) is the principal national substance abuse prevention organization working with community-based coalitions and representing their interests at the national level. CADCA's mission is: To Strengthen the Capacity of Community Coalitions to Create and Maintain Safe, Healthy and Drug-Free Communities. CADCA supports its members with training and technical assistance, public policy advocacy, media strategies and marketing programs, conferences and special events. Each year there is a conference bringing coalition members from across the country together in Washington D.C. The conference holds an annual "Capitol Hill Day" which will provide a voice to the entire substance abuse field, as concerned local and state leaders visit their elected officials. For more information, visit the CADCA website.

City County Alcohol & Drug Programs prevention program puts together an annual Legislative Luncheon for state Senators and Legislators, County Commissioners and City Council members. The goal of this luncheon is to inform, educate and gain support for current AOD treatment and prevention needs in South Dakota.

S.A.V.E. (Stand Against a Violent Environment) is a grassroots violence prevention effort. Youth involved in S.A.V.E. have planned and implemented youth conferences, a neighborhood watch, and other community-impact programs.

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