Valley Coalition visits Juneau

Courtesy photo

United Way of Mat-Su sponsored a trip to Juneau for the Mat-Su Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (MSAPC). The purpose of the trip was to increase public awareness of the MSAPC efforts and to empower youth leaders in our community. The trip focused on the importance of developing youth-to-peer leadership as well as peer advocacy as related to substance abuse prevention. Youth leaders had the opportunity to advocate for youth issues related to substance abuse prevention and to present an overview of the Alaska Healthy Kids Survey to the Alaska Legislature’s House Health and Social Services Committee on Feb. 9. Five youth coalition members spoke about their involvement in the coalition and presented the data from the coalition’s 2008 data project. Data was gathered from seventh-, ninth- and 11th-graders throughout the Mat-Su Borough. Coalition student members meeting with Gov. Sean Parnell are, from left, Nicole Jeffries, Patrick Gonser, Parnell, Robyn Hillman, Hannah Smith and Jessica Tremaine.