Youth Virtual Town Hall Event to Promote Fentanyl Awareness and Education to our Community
Youth Alliance and the California Youth Empowerment Network collaborate to inform the community about Fentanyl Poisoning with a Youth-led virtual town hall event that aims to discuss and spread the critical message of fentanyl poisoning awareness impacting our youth and community.
Gilroy, May 12, 2022 — As part of a collaboration between Youth Alliance and the California Youth Empowerment Network, local youth will inform and educate the community about fentanyl awareness. Through a virtual youth-led town hall session, youth, parents, and decision-makers will be informed about the impacts on mental health and the consequences of fentanyl poisoning in South Santa Clara County.
“Local youth have worked together over the last six months to put this call to action and develop a virtual town hall event on Fentanyl and its impacts on mental health,” said Rene Casas, Director of Policy at Youth Alliance. “The youth have spoken and want to ensure that the community makes fentanyl a top priority as it impacts everyone in our community.”
Youth Alliance recognizes how critical it is to inform and spread this important message to the public because awareness can save lives. It is important for youth and parents to come together to ensure that our community feels safe and knowledgeable about fentanyl poisoning.
“This Youth-led town hall event is an opportunity for our youth to raise public awareness about a crisis that is impacting every community. Parents are losing children to this poison without realizing the risks they’re taking,” said Lillian Silva, Program Leader for Leaders in Training and Youth Alliance staff. “Every parent, teacher and youth should know about the dangers of fentanyl poisoning. The health and safety of our youth needs to be our top priority, which is why Youth Alliance has partnered with the California Youth Empowerment Network to help spread the word about fentanyl.”
Among teenagers, overdose deaths linked to synthetic opioids like fentanyl have tripled in the past two years, yet many people have never heard of fake prescription pills being made with fentanyl. Fentanyl-involved deaths are fastest growing among 14-23 year olds. A new effort is being launched to help prevent this crisis and it all starts with a shared understanding and awareness of the impacts this has on our youth. “Just as important in getting the message to the public, is to make sure we also get youth involved in discussions about the dangers that exist out there,” said Lillian Silva. “This youth-led town hall allows a safe space for the youth voices to discuss this topic and inform the community about the impacts on mental health and the consequences of Fentanyl poisoning.”
Through their tremendous work with the California Youth Empowerment Network, our youth have engaged with other Transition Age Youth (TAY) from all over the state on youth advocacy and uplifting youth voice. Through the work youth participants have learned and have seen the negative impacts of fentanyl in the community. The opportunity to collaborate with the California Youth Empowerment Network has provided the much-needed resources to be able to share this information via a youth-led virtual town hall presentation.
On Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at 5:00pm, a youth-led virtual town hall event will allow Youth Alliance youth to discuss and bring awareness on a very important community issue about Fentanyl Awareness. Community members, youth, parents, and decision-makers will be joining the efforts that day to ensure the health and safety of our youth are at the forefront of priorities.
Guests will be able to join us In-Person or Virtually.
Watch Party (In-Person): We will be having a Watch Party (in-person) at The Neon Exchange, located at 7365 Monterey Rd, Gilroy, CA 95020. There will be food from 4pm to 5pm and the town hall will be displayed in a projector for all to watch starting at 5 pm.
Watch Virtually (Online): Guests who are not able to attend can still join us online. They can register here to get the link and watch the youth-led fentanyl town hall event virtually.
To join our youth programming please see below for more information:
Jóvenes Unidos Wednesdays from 5pm-6pm please contact Sam Bass – sam@youthall.org
Leaders in Training (LIT) please contact Lillian Silva – lillian@youthall.org
CAYEN Youth Sessions please connect with Rene Casas – rene@youthall.org
To learn more about Youth Alliance please connect with Rene Casas, Director of Policy at Youth Alliance – rene@youthall.org
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About Leaders In Training
In collaboration with the County of Santa Clara Behavioral Health Services, Youth Alliance’s program Leaders In Training (LIT) is a leadership development program that provides youth with the opportunity to work on leadership and youth empowerment. The program encourages and prepares youth to be leaders within their community.
Leaders In Training (LIT) is committed to providing youth with an empowering experience, encouraging and preparing youth to be leaders within their community. Youth can become involved by attending virtually or in person occurring every Thursday at 5pm. Ages 12 – 19. For information about Leaders In Training, please contact Lillian Silva – lillian@youthall.org
About Youth Alliance
Youth Alliance (YA) is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit serving youth and their families in San Benito County, and South Santa Clara County, CA that strives to create thriving and equitable communities through comprehensive, innovative and culturally relevant services that equip youth and families to become change agents in their own lives and in their community. The agency was founded in 1995 and began as a grassroots effort of committed volunteers and has evolved into an agency that had over 2,000 members and reached over 50,000 children, youth, and their families in 2020-2021.
YA’s mission is to assist young people in developing skills so that they can contribute to the social and economic betterment of their community. Our guiding principle is to provide culturally competent services to empower and enrich the families we serve while working as a model for collaboration and advocacy. For information about Youth Alliance, visit youthall.org
About California Youth Empowerment Network (CAYEN)
The California Youth Empowerment Network (CAYEN) was formed to develop, improve and strengthen the voice of Transition Age Youth (TAY) in local and state-level policy. CAYEN engages youth and young adults who have been touched in some way by the mental health, juvenile justice or foster care systems. They are passionate people – consumers, family members and friends of people living with a mental illness.
They are firm believers that their personal experience, education and employment give them a credible, passionate and true voice to the challenges and successes of the TAY population. Through CAYEN they receive the support, training and skills to bring their voices to policy and program discussions. For information about Youth Alliance, visit ca-yen.org