helping hands over Anderson ValleyAnderson Valley Community Action Coalition

Our mission is to unite the Anderson Valley community in efforts that promote community health through grassroots organizing to reduce the presence of drugs in the community and prevent youth substance abuse.

About AVCAC: Mission and Goals

The overarching goal of the Anderson Valley Community Action Coalition (AVCAC) is to create a safe, clean, healthy, friendly, and drug-free community environment.

AVCAC focuses its efforts on the following long-range goals:

  • Identification, removal, and clean up of methamphetamine production labs.
  • Coordination with the criminal justice system to increase response to and consequences of drug offenses.
  • Partnering with youth to create positive alternative activities that build assets and resiliency and reduce substance abuse.
  • Educating youth, parents, and community members about harmful effects of drugs (focusing on methamphetamine and marijuana).
  • Nurturing effective and mobilized community coalition and action groups.

In 2001, 71% of the Anderson Valley residents responding to a community survey identified drug and alcohol abuse as the most serious safety problem in the community. In striving to understand why marijuana and meth have become such threats to the community, AVCAC members have identified a number of risk factors, including: community attitudes that condone drug and alcohol use, low perception of harm related to marijuana and limited knowledge of the harmful effects of methamphetamines in the environment, lack of positive role models at home and in the community, lack of prevention and treatment services in the community, and lack of positive alternative activities for youth.

AVCAC focuses its efforts on the community’s 600 K-12 students, out-of-school youth, parents, teachers, community members, and law enforcement personnel.

Actions taken by AVCAC in conjunction with its partners include:

  • Quarterly publication of the Community Action Update newsletter
  • Development and maintenance of the AV Teen Center
  • Organization of community potlucks
  • Organization of community meetings around law enforcement and other relevant issues

 

Did you know? Most (96%) AV high school students think that people risk harming themselves by frequent smoking of cigarettes.*
*from AVHS California Healthy Kids Survey 2010