To all of the students returning home for the holiday, welcome back!

Since you’ve been away, the Crescenta Valley Drug & Alcohol Prevention Coalition has changed. We have a new name: CV Alliance! It’s more user-friendly, and we hope people won’t avoid our booth at community events! When you were last here, we didn’t have a youth organization that offers community service hours to students working with us to prevent underage drinking and drug use. Now there’s CV Alliance’s Youth Alliance. Members come from CV & Clark high schools and bring varying interests, experiences and levels of participation in other activities. Led by student board member Makayla Rabago, they meet regularly, have fun and no doubt find ways to make a difference. Perhaps you’ll be back in town when there’s a wide-scale, youth-centric event next year.

Remember filling out the California Healthy Kids Survey? Middle and high school students just filled it out again. Next March, we’ll know more about students’ alcohol, tobacco and marijuana habits. We track past 30-day use, perception of risk or harm, perception of parental disapproval of use, and perception of peer disapproval of use. We can share findings and get community feedback then.

What should CV adults know about CV kids?  If you’re here, find out on Thursday, Dec. 5 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in La Crescenta Library’s community room (2809 Foothill Blvd.). Letters written by Jim Smiley’s CVHS students will be guide the discussion. This community forum is designed for robust discussion. Spearheaded by Alliance board member Mary O’Keefe, the CV Alliance, its Youth Alliance, Prom Plus, and the Fire House are event co-sponsors.

Finally, if you grew up here, you probably heard Glendale Police Officer Joe Allen talk about the dangers of drug use. Joe’s a founder and leader of this organization, and a social media whiz. This past weekend, he received the 2014 Alfred E. Stewart Award, named “Narc of the Year” by his peers! Seven-thousand members of the California Narcotic Officers Association said Glendale/CV’s Joe Allen is the best in the state! That’s huge!

Congratulations, Joe!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Suzy Jacobs is the executive director of the Crescenta Valley Drug & Alcohol Prevention Coalition. You can reach her at suzy@cvdapc.org.

  Suzy JACOBS