Get Involved

We can all be agents of positive change.

Get Involved with TTYSB! 

Join Us!

Volunteer
Do You Like Meeting New People in the Community? Working with Youth?

  • Volunteer to help share the Social Marketing Campaigns 
  • Distribute posters, and promotional materials to the community
  • Help conduct, pass out surveys at school, parent, sport, and community events
  • Volunteer to solicit donations of items for focus groups
  • Plan or Chaperone Youth Events

 

Become a Mentor
Tri-Town Youth Services has been talking with local residents, school staff, business leaders, clergy and young people, to get a better sense of what families need right now, so that we may offer the best programs and services to our neighbors. During these conversations, something became clear: we need more mentors! An overwhelming amount of research shows that the key to a young person’s success, achievement and resiliency is the presence of at least one caring adult in their lives. More than anything, it is the consistent, positive, supportive adult relationships that help young people overcome life’s challenges and thrive.

As a small community – with a large adult and retiree population – we have the capacity to ensure that every child in need of a mentor in the Tri-Town area is paired with one. With support from the CT Mentoring Partnership and Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters, Tri-Town Youth Services is developing a system for recruiting, training and pairing mentors with local kids. Whether you are interested in a short-term project working side-by-side with youth, or a longer-term commitment to support one young person in need of some extra care and attention, we would like to hear from you.

If you are interested in mentoring a child or teen, please contact Allison Abramson, Executive Director at 860-526-3600.

 

SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION COALITION GROUPS

 

Steering & Sustainability Work Group
We need dedicated community members with vision! Help us plan for the years ahead. This work group will survey and talk with neighbors about their concerns and identify ways the Coalition can help. Receive training in prevention strategies and determine the best approaches for addressing our community’s unique needs. Think creatively about how to leverage our Drug-free Communities Grant, and how to keep the work alive after that funding expires.

 

Parent Advisory Group
Engage parents, representing children of all ages, in a constructive dialogue about prevention. Members of this work group will receive training in healthy brain development, with additional information about trauma and addiction. Parents will also take a deep dive into the 40 Developmental Assets: what they are, how to build them, and which are most commonly lacking among youth in our community. The Parent Advisory Group will create opportunities to hear parent concerns through surveys and town-hall meetings. Based on needs, the Advisory Group will plan a series of events to address topics of concern and share information about positive communication, establishing boundaries and staying connected to our values as parents.

 

Youth Action Council
We cannot prevent teen substance use, bullying, or youth suicide without input from the young people in our community! Youth Action Council is a community-based leadership program for students in grades 6 through 9. These ambassadors of Tri-Town Youth Services have the opportunity to become empowered and engaged in an evidence-based process for planning and implementing prosocial and wellness initiatives with an adult coordinator. We invite students to join our coalition. Share your stories of teen life: what you love about our community and what you wish were better. Receive leadership training, learn about the 40 Developmental Assets, and work side-by-side with community leaders to solve some of our area’s biggest challenges. Find your voice, share your ideas, and help make our schools and our neighborhoods even better.

 

Community Wellness Group
Can we address the concept of “wellness” as a community? That is the challenge for the Community Wellness Group! This team will look at the community through a holistic lens, with concern for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of our neighbors. The Community Wellness Group will develop new programs that promote and support stress management, self-care and overall good health. Underlying their work is the notion that if we can build healthy habits, we can teach our children to do the same.

 

School Partnership Team
The Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition’s great work with Region 4 continues! As Region 4 and its partners select a new life skills and substance abuse prevention curriculum from the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices, this team will be able to support the trained facilitators who will implement the program in the new school year. The School Partnership Team will help build a calendar of classroom lessons, special assemblies, and family events centered on positive school climate, self-confidence and resistance skills, and drug and alcohol awareness. Building upon the tremendous success of the Valley Peer Advocates Program, we will also be developing more opportunities for trained Peer Captains to support their fellow students, especially in-coming freshmen and John Winthrop student leaders.

 

Policy Task Force
The Policy Task Force thinks creatively about how state and local laws or ordinances, or school policies can be used to reduce the risk of substance use among residents of Chester, Deep River and Essex. Developing laws or ordinances to limit availability of drugs or alcohol is one part of this work. Another critical component is building a more comprehensive safety net for higher risk youth (those using alcohol or drugs regularly, those involved in the juvenile justice system or those consistently absent from school). The Policy Task Force can help build a system of family supports into the consequences for drug or alcohol infractions. This system of supports may include parent education, early intervention or addiction services or mental health services, as needed. The Policy Task Force may also help establish a network of community service and mentoring opportunities for young people in need of extra care and attention. Wherever possible, we seek to wrap services around those neighbors at higher risk for drug or alcohol abuse.

Support Us!

Donate

Interested in making an online credit card donation to support Tri-Town? You can, at our secure PayPal site here. Thank you!