Turtleback Take Back Team Coalition serving the Turtleback Community - The Turtleback Take Back Team Coalition aims to serve and protect the youth of the Turtleback community by collaborating with the community and implementing evidence based prevention strategies to reduce and prevent youth substance use. The Coalition will involve all 12 community sectors to help shift community norms, build protective policy, and reduce access to youth. Key strategies include increasing coalition participation and attendance, expanding youth leadership and involvement, eliminating targeted messaging towards youth, and building partnerships with local law enforcement. The Turtleback Take Back Team Coalition serves a diverse, predominantly Hispanic, population in Northeastern San Diego, centered around the Turtleback community. This community is home to approximately 30,000 residents and is experiencing a population influx with an increase of multi-family/low-income housing and a surge in unregulated businesses. Gender is 55% female and 45% male; its cultural diversity is demonstrated by these demographics: Hispanic or Latino - 46%, Anglo – 35%, Asian – 11%, African American – 3%, Two or more races – 5%. The Turtleback community was rurally suburban until recent years when there began a hasty ‘densification’ of the area to create affordable housing. The development of such apartments has assisted the region in meeting the affordable housing expectations pressured by the state, however without the essential infrastructure or neighborhood services, School resources, and law and code enforcement. Businesses are opening in the Turtleback community without appropriate oversight and scrutiny, especially smoke shops, alcohol delivery services, and marijuana storefronts, A dangerous norm is developing that alcohol, marijuana, and other substance use are without health and safety consequences, legal peril, and that making money is more important than obeying the sales to minors laws, advertising restrictions, or business permitting laws. Teen use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana has increased as access has increased. And as normalization of smoke shops, alcohol delivery services, and marijuana store fronts through advertising and promotion becomes more amplified, teen perception of harm is decreasing. By 2031, the Coalition expects to achieve a 5–10% reduction in marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco use among 6th–12th grade students, as measured by the California Healthy Kids Survey, while fostering a safe, well-informed, and better-connected community through the Turtleback Take Back Team Coalition.
