San Lorenzo and Hayward Acres Mobilized Working to Increase Community Collaboration and Mobilization and Reduce Youth Substance Use - SLHAM is a grassroots community organization established in 2019 based in the urban unincorporated area of Alameda County and surrounding areas working to address decades of disenfranchisement, disinvestment, redlining and the effects of the war on drugs. We work to build resident and youth voices to shift the dynamics of power through our advocacy efforts. SLHAM serves the San Lorenzo and Hayward Acres communities of the Unincorporated Alameda County, California, a community of 34,322 residents. About 19,000 of those residents are youth under the age of 18. The San Lorenzo Hayward Acres Mobilized will work on establishing and strengthening community collaboration in support of local efforts to prevent youth substance use. The coalition will achieve its goals by implementing the following strategies: continuing to enforce existing tobacco retail licenses, enforcement of smoke-free multi unit housing in the unincorporated area of Alameda County, create alcohol policy to reduce the amount of outlets in the community and campaign for a cannabis verbal warning policy. SLHAM works to build resident and youth voices to shift the dynamics of power through our advocacy efforts. Capacity is built through mentoring, training sessions and hands on learning opportunities to gain the skills needed to make environmental level change. Our work focuses almost exclusively to uplift the voices of youth and underserved and marginalized residents in order to shift the dynamic of power that has left the unincorporated area with limited resources and less municipal representation and economically disadvantaged making it difficult to build a safe and prosperous drug free community. San Lorenzo and Hayward Acres are uniquely located in Alameda County Urban Unincorporated Area which governed by the Board of Supervisors who are advised on issues and policies relating to the unincorporated area by a network of MAC’s, grassroots community groups, and committees, appointed
two supervisors who represents the majority of the unincorporated area. SLHAM directly works with 100 residents per year and 400 over the lifetime of the project and our messaging reaches 100,000 local residents a year, 400,000 over the life of the project.
The goals of SLHAM are 1) SLHAM will grow resident youth leadership in Hayward Acres, San Lorenzo, and the unincorporated area to mobilize are youth substance use issues and engage elected officials who represent the unincorporated area with a focus on the prevention of underage drinking; 2) To increase SLHAM's capacity and reach in order to grow impressions and visibility to increase awareness of youth substance use and misuse; 3) To reduce the density of alcohol and tobacco outlets in the unincorporated area; 4) Changing community norms and a low youth perception of risk or harm of drinking alcohol, consuming marijuana and tobacco.
