From The Youth

Dublin ACT Youth Council

The purpose of the Dublin ACT Youth Council is to give Dublin youth a voice in the community regarding prevention of underage drinking and other drug use initiatives. This group is also responsible for developing and initiating their own youth-driven community projects to combat underage drinking and other drug use including the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs and marijuana. The Youth Council is comprised of a diverse group of community youth that provide leadership training and evidence based prevention strategies to guide members in accomplishing their goals.

Committees of the Dublin ACT Youth Council

Within the Dublin ACT Youth Council, we have constructed three different committees: the High School/Middle School Committee, the Harmony Music Festival Committee, and the Media Committee. The High School/Middle School Committee is responsible for speaking to students from different schools around Dublin about their mission of drug awareness, and how they can contribute to it as well. The Harmony Music Festival Planning Committee is in charge of hosting and organizing the Council’s yearly Harmony Music Festival, where students from Dublin perform for our cause. And finally, the Media Committee is in charge of online outreach and communication within and out of the Council. Please see more information below.

High School/Middle School Committee

The middle school committee is all about reaching out to our younger generation and upcoming high school students to help convey the importance of healthy coping mechanisms and a substance free life. With interactive presentations and activities, we show the middle school students a healthy support group here to help them through their rest of their middle school career and transition to high school and later through adulthood.

(current members as of 2024: Susan Gyimah, Annemarie Johnson, Zion Birden, Laila El-Shabrawy, Bushrah Alhyari, Aashrita Naveen , Nysa Bareja, Haya Alsammerai, Grace Lee, Ilaya Doss, Regan Heynoski, Mehak Naqvi, Keya Pandya)

Harmony Music Festival Planning Committee

Harmony Music Festival is a substance-free event put on by students, for students. We feature student and adult performers from Dublin City Schools. There are yard games, booth games, a raffle, and food trucks. It is free to attend and everyone is welcome! Harmony 2024 will be at Coffman Pavilion (by the Rec Center), on April 12th from 5-8:30.

(current members as of 2024:

Media Committee

Jerome Teen Institute Pancake Meeting

The leaders of Teen Institute at Jerome had their pancake breakfast meeting on February 22nd. Here is the link to a Tiktok-style interview that they made during the meeting! https://www.instagram.com/reel/CpgEE1kj7xV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

MIDDLE SCHOOL VISITS

Our ACT Council members have been visiting the Dublin middle schools, educating students about the harmful effects of alcohol and substances through fun activities such as escape rooms and poster making. Thank you middle schoolers for being so welcoming and engaged!

ACT Youth Council 2022-2023

ACT membership has gained about 20 new members since the peak of the pandemic (2019-2021)! With this increased participation we have more opportunities to spread awareness, creating impactful changes in our schools and community.

Additional Information on Substance Abuse

Abby Collier | Speech Winner

Abby Collier was the 2020 winner of the first ever We Are The Majority Rally Speech Contest!

When asked to give a preview of her speech, Abby said, “My speech is about how much of an impact my dad being a police officer has made on myself. I share why I have learned how important it is to live a healthy lifestyle and the consequences of not doing so.”

In her own words, here’s a little bit more about Abby, a seventeen-year-old junior at Dublin Coffman High School:

“I am an ambassador for Dublin ACT Youth Council, (ACT stands for Adolescents and Community Together) this group promotes the drug and alcohol free lifestyle among their peers. I have been involved in this group for three years now and have been an ambassador (a leadership position) for two of those three years…For Dublin ACT, I lead a committee which focuses on educating the parents in the Dublin community about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, and how parents can be involved in their children’s lives regarding substance use. Being a part of this organization and being able to see how much of an impact this group makes has been a very rewarding experience.”

Take time to learn more about the group on this website link.

Congratulations to the Dublin ACT Youth Council!

Congratulations to the Dublin ACT Youth Council for being awarded the 2019 ADAPAO Prevention Organization of the Year Award for exemplary efforts to employ dialogue, education, networking, and advocacy to champion prevention.

The ADAPAO Youth Prevention Awards honor excellence in and commitment to prevention in Ohio among young people and youth-engaged organizations in our state.

Members of ADAPAO, the statewide membership association championing prevention in Ohio, nominate youth who are engaged in prevention in their communities and around the state, as well as organizations engaged in youth prevention.

The ADAPAO Awards were presented to Dublin ACT Youth Council and the other honorees at the ADAPAO Social & Prevention Showcase, on Sunday, October 6, 2019.

Statistics

There are multiple misconceptions and a lack of knowledge about substance misuse, so our youth leaders have compiled a list of links of statistics relating to substance misuse you may or may not be aware of. The reason that we emphasize this data is because they are more than just numbers, each statistic represents real people and real experiences:

“This is in response to increasing overdoses in Franklin County where overdose deaths climbed 47 percent in 2020 to more than 800 deaths.” (https://adamhfranklin.org/naloxbox-partnership/)

“Among the 133.1 million current alcohol users aged 12 or older in 2021, 60.0 million people (or 45.1%) were past month binge drinkers.” (https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/atod)

“Among past month users of nicotine products, nearly two thirds of adolescents aged 12 to 17 (63.1%) vaped nicotine.” (https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/atod)

“Early (aged 12 to 14) to late (aged 15 to 17) adolescence is generally regarded as a critical risk period for the initiation of alcohol use with multiple studies showing associations between age at first alcohol use and the occurrence of alcohol abuse or dependence” (https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/WebFiles_TEDS_SR142_AgeatInit_07-10-14/TEDS-SR142-AgeatInit-2014.pdf)

“25.6% of 8th graders have abused alcohol at least once.” (https://drugabusestatistics.org/teen-drug-use/)

“61.5% of teens have abused alcohol by 12th grade.” (https://drugabusestatistics.org/teen-drug-use/)