North Reading CIT Hires Youth Substance Prevention Coordinator

The North Reading Community Impact Team (CIT) is happy to announce that it has hired Leah Maihos as the Substance Abuse Prevention Program Coordinator. A full-time position funded by the Drug Free Communities Grant, Leah will work within the CIT and Youth Services Departments. Leah received her Master of Social Work from Boston University and is a licensed certified social worker. She will be working with students, parents and community members to create awareness and strategies to combat youth substance use.

North Reading was one of two communities awarded the Drug-Free Communities (DFC) federal grant this year. The Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program, created by the Drug-Free Communities Act of 1997, is the Nation’s leading effort to mobilize communities to prevent youth substance use. Directed by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), in partnership with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the DFC Program provides grants to community coalitions to strengthen the infrastructure among local partners to create and sustain a reduction in local youth substance use.

The DFC Program provides grants of up to $625,000 over five years to community coalitions that facilitate youth and adult participation at the community level in local youth drug use prevention efforts.

According to data for 2014, an estimated 3,800 young people per day between the ages of 12 and 17 used drugs for the first time in the preceding year. Additionally, high school seniors are more likely to be current smokers of marijuana than cigarettes and non-medical use of prescription or over-the-counter drugs remains unacceptably high. Parents should also know that 17% of high school seniors in 2015 reported binge drinking (i.e., 5 or more drinks in a row) in the past two weeks.

Recognizing that local problems need local solutions, DFC-funded coalitions engage multiple sectors of the community and employ a variety of environmental strategies to address local drug problems. Coalitions are comprised of community leaders, parents, youth, teachers, religious and fraternal organizations, health care and business professionals, law enforcement, and media. By involving the community in a solution-oriented approach, DFC also helps those youth at risk for substance use recognize the majority of our Nation’s youth choose not to use drugs.

Additionally, DFC-funded communities have proven to be more effective in addressing these complex social issues and have demonstrated an increase in positive outcomes over communities that do not have DFC’s.

About the North Reading Community Impact Team

The North Reading Community Impact Team (CIT) is a partnership between the North Reading

Police Department, North Reading Youth Services, North Reading School Department, North

Reading Parks & Recreation, North Reading Fire Department, North Reading Elder Services, Public Health, and the North Reading Board of Selectmen. The team was developed to better coordinate the services provided to the community. The CIT’s mission is to work together to better the quality of life for all citizens. The Team emphasizes the use of innovative, non-traditional methods of impacting crime and the fear of crime and strives toward cooperative interaction between the community, law enforcement and town departments. The CIT works to identify factors that have a negative impact on the quality of life for the citizens of North Reading and to implement solutions that solve the underlying problems. The group is organized into Action Teams including: The Youth Substance Use Prevention Coalition, Public Safety, Social Services, K-12, and Outreach and Partnerships.