Tuesday, May 13, 2025
5/13/2025
SUPPORTING ARDSLEY'S YOUTH AND FAMILIES (ARDSLEY SAYF COALITION) - The mission of the Supporting Ardsley Youth and Families coalition (SAYF) is to reduce the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other harmful substances by youth through working with all the sectors in our community. We can accomplish our mission through a strong action plan that includes data gathering, education, raising awareness of the issues, and utilizing evidence based prevention strategies to address the conditions in our community that contribute to the problem. We are a group of parents and community members who are dedicated to the youth of Ardsley. We are focused on reducing the rate of substance use among our teens, although we have made progress towards this goal as proven by our decline in the rate of use which has been documented in our past student surveys, we still have work to do. We can meet our goals by focusing on the issues facing our community, issues such as the social norms, and peer and parental acceptance pertaining to underage alcohol use as well as marijuana and electronic cigarette use. We were able to change the rate of use by bringing awareness to the negative effects of substance use, this was challenging especially since we hear many parents in the community say that they rather have their children experiment with substance use while still living at home where they can provide guidance. This has been particularly challenging especially since many parents perceive their child’s social success by how many parties they are invited to on the weekends. We know we will make headway especially considering how strong of a relationship we have with all of the key influences in our community. We make sure we include the youth voice in our media campaigns, as we know peer influence makes a big difference. We are thrilled to have students who are willing to make public statements on the importance of living a substance free life, students who are willing to say publicly that their future is too important to risk it by using alcohol, tobacco products or marijuana. We want to ensure our youth have the skills and tools necessary to be true to themselves and to see the importance of living a substance free life in order to ensure a bright future.
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