Nashville Youth Featured at National Substance Abuse Prevention Leadership Forum

NASHVILLE— The Nashville Prevention Partnership’s Rep Your Voice campaign will be showcased this week at the 2009 Community Anti-Drug Coalition’s Across America National Leadership Forum held in Washington D.C. The Nashville Prevention Partnership is an anti-drug coalition that brings individuals and organizations together to reduce and prevent substance abuse and violence in Davidson County. 

According to Community Anti-Drug Coalition of America officials, the Rep Your Voice campaign was selected because it employs an innovative approach to countering drug and alcohol messages prevalent in the lives of youth. Through the artistic mediums of music, video, photography, and poetry, Rep Your Voice provides a platform for promoting healthy lives and communities. The multifaceted campaign created by Nashville Prevention Partnership includes nationally recognized music producer, Craig A. King, and world renowned artist Beth Nielsen Chapman.

“This campaign is a great example of an innovative, comprehensive and proven prevention strategy which meets the needs of a targeted population,” stated TDMHDD Commissioner Virginia Trotter Betts. “Prevention is a key component in decreasing substance abuse among Tennessee’s youth.”

The Rep Your Voice campaign is partly funded by the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities as part of its federal Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant, which funds community anti-drug coalitions to implement effective substance abuse prevention strategies in 29 counties across the State.

“The Nashville Prevention Partnership is an extension of the State’s overall substance abuse prevention efforts,” said Bruce Emery, TDMHDD Assistant Commissioner of the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services.  “The Strategic Prevention Framework model engages communities to understand through data how they can make best use of prevention resources.”

“Each of these project components are intended to increase disapproval of alcohol and drug use among youth,” said DeWayne Holman, Executive Director of the Nashville Prevention Partnership.

For more information about the Rep Your Voice campaign, go to www.repyourvoice.com  or call (615) 297-7635. For additional substance abuse or mental health information, please contact TDMHDD’s Office of Communications at (615) 253-4812 or visit www.tn.gov/mental. 

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