Suffolk County Government Invests in Three More Years of Community-Based Prevention!

I am pleased to announce that Suffolk County Government has recognized the value of our Town of Babylon Cares Community of Coalitions and will invest in another three years of funding to continue developing and expanding our upstream approach to preventing substance misuse and overdose deaths.

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This investment represents more than continued financial support. It represents a commitment to a fundamental principle of prevention:

We shouldn't have to wait for another tragedy to recognize that something needs to change.

A grieving parent is one person I hope never has to stand at our podium again: a grieving parent telling the story of a child they have lost.

Because when that happens, we are already too late.

In 2013, our community experienced a heartbreaking tragedy. A mother lost her daughter, a tenth-grade student whose life ended far too soon. That loss helped bring our community together and gave rise to what would become the Lindenhurst Community Cares Coalition.

Students rallied. Parents spoke up. Community leaders came together. And we began asking an important question: What can we change in our community so that another family doesn't have to experience this loss?

We knew that reacting to tragedy wasn't enough. We needed to get ahead of it.

In 2016, our young people organized their very first Youth Summit. Adults representing national, state, county, and local organizations came together to demonstrate what was possible when a community united around its youth. They offered their knowledge, resources, encouragement, and support.

But the most important thing they offered was the opportunity for young people to lead.

And lead they did!

This year, Lindy Cares Youth Coalition, the oldest youth coalition in our Town of Babylon Cares Community of Coalitions, conducted its 9th Annual Youth Summit.

Nine summits later, the mission remains the same: Giving Youth a Voice!

Along the way, we've helped bring meaningful changes to our schools and community. We now have a prevention counselor available on-site at the school, and programs that increasingly recognize the importance of therapeutic intervention rather than simply punishing young people who may be struggling.

We've learned that young people need more than warnings about drugs and alcohol. They need connection, trusted adults, healthy coping skills, opportunities, and a genuine belief that their futures matter.

And there is still so much more to do.

One of the greatest challenges in prevention is maintaining a sense of urgency when things appear to be going well.

When tragedy strikes, everyone wants to help. People show up, resources become available, and the community rallies around a shared purpose.

But as time passes and those painful memories become less immediate, the urgency can fade.

Yet isn't that exactly what we were working toward? A community where fewer families experience tragedy?

I have spent years working to keep that sense of urgency alive, even when there is no recent tragedy reminding us why prevention matters.

Because the absence of a crisis doesn't mean the absence of risk. And it certainly doesn't mean our work is finished.

Today, we're moving even further upstream, beyond responding to substance use and risky behaviors, to understanding and changing the conditions that contribute to them in the first place. We're strengthening protective factors, building networks of support, giving young people meaningful roles in their communities, and developing better ways to measure and demonstrate that prevention works.

Our Youth Summit is part of that work.

It's a day of learning, leadership, friendships, laughter, and discovery. But beneath all the excitement is something much more important: young people learning that they have the power to influence the environments in which they live.

They aren't just the future of prevention. They are part of prevention happening right now.

And while the adults who helped launch this movement may not always be standing beside them, our responsibility to support, encourage, and believe in them has never been greater.

I often think about that podium.

I want to see it filled with young people sharing their ideas, celebrating their accomplishments, challenging the status quo, and inspiring their peers.

I never want to see it filled by another parent who has to bury a child before we recognize that something needs to change.

That is why we continue. That is the pledge we made. That is why we maximize resources to create a safety support network that keeps people from slipping through.

That is why prevention matters, especially when everything seems to be going well.

And that is why, after all these years, our commitment remains:

Creating environments in which everyone believes they can thrive!

Congratulations to our Lindy Cares Youth Coalition on its 9th Annual Youth Summit. May your voices continue to grow louder, your opportunities grow greater, and your belief in your ability to change the world never fade.

We want our young people standing at the podium because they have something to say about their futures, not because they have lost someone they love.

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