About Us

Mission Statement:

     To create a safe, healthy, supportive drug-free Chase County, through comprehensive community wide prevention efforts which reduce the priority wide prevention efforts which reduce the priority risk factors and enhance protective factors utilizing research-based prevention programming practices, programs and principles, and foster cooperation between existing programs and organizations dedicated to the well being of Chase County youth and residents.

The Chase County Drug Free Action Team is represented by the following sectors:

Youth, Media, Parents, Law Enforcement, Businesses, youth-serving organizations, Healthcare, Professionals, Religious organizations, Fraternal groups, Civic and volunteer groups, State and Local government agencies with expertise in the field of substance abuse, and other organizations involved in reducing substance abuse.

Our Officers for the 2007-2008 fiscal year are:

     President: Cheryl Jones, Chase County Health Dept. Nurse

     Vice President: Imogene Hewitt, Welcome Wagon

     Secretary: Amy Budke, Mentoring

     Treasurer: Don Hewitt, Concerned Citizens

     Program Director: Kitty Frank

     Youth Program Coordinator: Amy Budke

More about the Chase County Drug Free Action Team:

   The Chase County Drug Free Action Team serves Chase County, Kansas, a rural area covering 776 square miles with a population of approx. 3,000. The goals of the program are to:

1. Provide prevention education for parents, youth service providers and other community members in order to increase knowledge of science-based strategies to prevent youth alcohol and other drug use.
2. Provide prevention programming and intervention activities for youth designed to prevent, reduce or delay first use of alcohol, tobacco and other drug use.
3. Increase community collaboration and networking in order to develop a comprehensive, community-wide prevention response to youth alcohol, tobacco and other drug use.

To achieve these goals, the coalition will implement the following strategies:

1. Provide community members and youth impactors training on prevention issues including science-based prevention programming and basic drug awareness and prevention strategies relating to alcohol, tobacco, inhalents, marijuana, and methamphetamine.
2. Sponsor a multiple media outlet prevention campaign to increase awareness of local issues and strategies.
3. Provide research-based parents training for families, including Preparing for School Success and Guiding Good.
4. Support youth alternative activites, including Red Ribbon Week and County Night Out.
5. Support implementation of model prevention programs for students, including Project Alert, Promoting Alternative Thinking Skills (P.A.T.H.S.), SMART Team, Keep A Clear Mind, Reconnecting Youth, and Communities Mobilizing For Change On Alcohol.
6. Support provision of mentoring programs for students.
7. Provide training for a cadre of adults and youth to implement strategies to increase resiliency in youth using the Developmental Assest Framework.