PHOTO BY BILL BRETT
The students in the O’Bryant school’s PUSH-Up Program are seeking donations so that they can participate in a national conference. You can donate through this link.
BOSTON — John Daley, a Spanish teacher and director of the PUSH-Up Peer Leader program, is seeking help to get some the students at the John D. O’Bryant Mathematics and Science school in Boston to an anti-drug conference in Maryland and Washington, D.C.
The nine students in the O’Bryant PUSH-Up Program are preparing to travel in a couple of weeks to receive Peer-Leadership Training provided by Community Anti-Drug Coalition of America. CADCA’s National Leadership Forum is a four-day conference packed with multiple youth-oriented opportunities to learn the latest strategies to fight substance abuse and hear from nationally known experts and policymakers with a full day dedicated to Capitol Hill events on Wednesday, Feb. 6.
Daley is trying to raise money for the trip. “I am asking for your help for some very deserving students. As we all know substance use and abuse is taking our youth,” Daley wrote in a letter. “In my role as a teacher at the O’Bryant School, I recently launched an un-funded Peer-Leadership Program – The “PUSH Up” Program – to focus on youth substance use prevention. I am taking taking nine amazing students to the CADCA event in National Harbor, MD, Feb. 3-7, 2019. These deserving students need help with covering the cost of registration and travel.”
You can donate via this link.
This is the biggest annual summit focusing on youth substance use prevention/education in the world with more than 5,000 student groups attending. “Thank you for considering a tax deductible donation to help be the cause for change,” Daley wrote.
The PUSH-Up Program is an opportunity to create a peer-led community at O’Bryant School dedicated to engaging in substance use prevention advocacy among youth, promoting positive behavior change and healthy lifestyle choices. Driven by issues of importance to the students and with guidance from Mr. Daley, the interactive group will help identify and develop initiatives and campaigns to bring awareness to substance use prevention in our youth community across the City.
A peer-to-peer model has proven to be effective for a number of reasons including the opportunity for youth to communicate shared experiences and offer an avenue for sharing knowledge that resonates with other youth. The model promotes the idea that peers are the experts of their own lives and experiences, encouraging each other to grow.
PUSH-Up youth will provide the opportunity to learn about substance use prevention from community-based experts, including the Boston Public Health Commission Community Prevention Office, and to attend additional speaker events through Power Forward, along with additional partners.
In an effort to continue to build and strengthen youth substance use prevention, the PUSH-Up Program would like to move forward with continued support and networking of the Boston Public Health Commission, Office of Recovery Services, BPS, Boston Centers for Youth and Families, and ARPSS. We envision the development and implementation of a coalition within the City bridging all gaps to become a beacon for change.
Here’s that link again to make a donation.
