Be Awesome Youth Coalition teaches kids are ‘too good for drugs’

By Michelle Chance

Although growth has transformed the city of Maricopa in many ways, it still retains a set of small-town values that attract new families seeking safety, security and a sense of rural innocence for their children.

Despite the comforts the small but growing city may offer parents, Maricopa youth face challenges any inner-city child may encounter.

There are local agencies working together to actively combat substance abuse issues affecting the young people in Maricopa. Formed nearly two years ago, Be Awesome Youth Coalition is a group of community members and organizations, including the Maricopa Police Department and local schools, that want to reduce substance abuse among the youth.

Priscilla Behnke, program director for the Maricopa Community Alliance Against Substance Abuse (CAASA), said Be Awesome Youth Coalition deploys various strategies including one-on-one mentorships, youth leadership programs and substance abuse prevention classes.

The coalition’s mentorship program employs four adult mentors around four schools and focuses on helping at-risk children, the majority of whom come from single-parent households.

Behnke said the coalition decided to mentor children from these backgrounds after experience mentoring children at Maricopa Elementary School during the coalition’s early days, and because of “research that shows they are more at risk for drug abuse, teen pregnancy, lower grades, high school dropout rates and even suicide,” she said.

According to Behnke, the initial mentorship program at MES resulted in the reduction of risk factors for kids in single-parent homes by 50 percent.

“Those kids increased their test scores, their grades, their behavior incidences went down, the majority of them had their social skills in class go up and their attendance was getting better,” Behnke said.

Local statistics coincide with the Arizona Youth Survey conducted by Arizona Criminal Justice Commission, which found 80 percent of mentorship participants received “no or fewer behavior infractions” after the mentorship.

Additionally, the survey, in which Maricopa students also participated, found letter grades of mentees improved, the highest improvement being in math.

Soon after the success of the first mentorships, the coalition received a state grant. A portion of the funding went toward a mentorship program run by the Maricopa Police Department which, according to Behnke, helps kids grow up with a positive view of police officers.

MPD spokesman Ricardo Alvarado said the police department and Be Awesome Youth Coalition engage local youth through building trust, providing education and after-school activities with the Police Athletic League.

“A safe community is everyone’s business,” Alvarado said, noting, “combating substance use among youth is not all about just delivering the facts and educating the youth on the dangers; it is about engagement.”

Another strategy the coalition uses to fight substance abuse is through youth leadership and peer-to-peer engagement by means of the Student’s Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) club.

“Most of my SADD members are in middle school and they work really hard,” Behnke said. “They actually got to go to nationals on a grant they received.”

However, in order to truly prevent substance abuse in local youth, Behnke said early education through prevention classes is important.

Since the coalition’s beginning, Behnke said 250 fifth graders in five local schools have gone through the coalition’s “Too Good for Drugs” life skills prevention class. Elementary-aged children are targeted for prevention education in order to “get that message in there sooner when they are a little bit more malleable and willing to listen to it,” Behnke said.

Be Awesome Youth Coalition holds general meetings every second Wednesday at Maricopa Elementary School.

[email protected]

Priscilla Behnke at (520) 582-6138

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This story appears in the September issue of InMaricopa.