Have A Great Weekend!

Calling All After-School Program Providers

Here is some information from Rescue Social Change Group (RSCG) regarding their upcoming conference on after-school programs. Some of you might remember Jeff Jordan of RSCG from our previous grantee conferences.

RSCG is the contractor used by VTSF for the street marketing elements of the Y? campaign. You can find out more at http://www.boostconference.org/

We at VTSF are in hopes of including some of this info at our grantee conference in September.

Interesting Article from the New York Times

NY Times: Cigarette Company Paid For Lung Cancer Study

In October 2006, Dr. Claudia Henschke of Weill Cornell Medical College jolted the cancer world with a study saying that 80 percent of lung cancer deaths could be prevented through widespread use of CT scans.

Small print at the end of the study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, noted that it had been financed in part by a little-known charity called the Foundation for Lung Cancer: Early Detection, Prevention & Treatment. A review of tax records by The New York Times shows that the foundation was underwritten almost entirely by $3.6 million in grants from the parent company of the Liggett Group, maker of Liggett Select, Eve, Grand Prix, Quest and Pyramid cigarette brands.

Kick Butts Day -- April 2nd

Just a reminder that the 13th Annual Kick Butts Day is on April 2.

If you plan to host any Kick Butts Day activities, our public relations coordinator, Richard Foster, can help you prepare a press release and also invite legislators. Contact Richard at rfoster@vtsf.org.

Kick Butts Day is an annual national celebration of youth tobacco-use prevention efforts and activities sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.

Foundations of Prevention

Foundations of Prevention is an online course offered by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention that covers the basic core knowledge of substance abuse prevention, providing information on prevention principles, approaches, strategies, as well as guidance for planning effective programs and measuring results.

The course consists of eight instructional units. It may be taken for FREE or continuing education credits are available through the University of Maryland College Park for $25. To access this course:
www.samsa.gov

• Click on Center for Substance Abuse Prevention [CSAP] (right column)
  
• Click on Prevention Platform (left column)
  
• Register as a user to utilize the tools
  
• Click on Training at the top of the page
  
• Click on featured Resources
  
• Click on CSAP’s Foundations of Prevention On-Line Course
  
• Follow the prompts to register to take this specific course.

Y St. Training - McLean - March 29th

Please help get the word out that we need youth to join Y St.!

ydouthink will again be hosting the Y St. Trainings on Sat., March 29th at the Marriott Courtyard – Tysons Corner.

Y St. is a youth-led movement where young people advocate against tobacco use. As part of the ydouthink campaign, Y St. youth advocate for smokefree lifestyles and educate other youth through events and activism. In Y St., youth aren’t just volunteers; they are a promoter, designer, activist, event planner, and leader. Youth can earn valuable credit for community service hours, and other rewards like cash, gear, scholarships, and prizes.Currently, there are over 1,500 youth statewide that have attended the Y St. Trainings and are now official Y St. Members. There are only 50 available invitations for this training session, however we typically receive over 200 youth applications. Youth must be invited to attend, so encourage interested youth to apply today at http://www.ystreet.org/. We would be happy to send you some flyers, brochures, and posters to support your recruitment efforts. Please contact Danny Saggese at 804-225-3624 and we will send them right out.