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\u201cThe ACCESS Substance Abuse Program (ASAP) Community Coalition formed in response to substance use concerns in the Arab-American community of Wayne County, Michigan, including a 2008 drunk driving fatality involving a local Arab-American man,\u201d said the coalition\u2019s Public Health Coordinator Mona Hijazi.<\/strong> \u201cEven in the face of this well publicized tragedy, many community members refused to acknowledge that alcohol was a concern for the local population, due to the religious prohibition of alcohol use in Islam. The individuals who went on to form ASAP were concerned by the level of denial they saw after this death. ASAP initially focused on alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and prescription drugs. In addition to the goal of reducing use of these substances among youth, ASAP made stigma reduction a primary focus of the coalition. ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services) is the lead agency for ASAP. Today, ACCESS is the largest Arab American community nonprofit in the U.S., with a 47-year history of excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPrior to the\u00a0pandemic, we increased the capacity to respond to substance use in the community by expanding our youth membership and developing youth councils in the community,\u201d said Hijazi. \u201cOur youth worked on\u00a0recruiting events,\u00a0combined\u00a0with\u00a0an awareness campaign that addressed\u00a0stigma around substance misuse in the community.\u00a0During the past year, our youth\u00a0educated 16 tobacco vendors\u00a0on the importance of not selling to minors and\u00a0launched a photovoice project that addressed\u00a0the\u00a0normalization\u00a0of tobacco\u00a0use among youth\u00a0in the Arab Community. Both\u00a0the\u00a0ASAP\u00a0and the Substance Use and Tobacco Prevention program at ACCESS\u00a0have coordinated monthly substance use forums\u00a0at local community centers, including schools and faith-based organizations.\u00a0Our team of Health Educators successfully presented LifeSkill Training <\/em>that has proven to be effective in reducing and preventing drug use and violence among youth. In hopes of\u00a0responding\u00a0to the opioid crisis, we also collaborated with different\u00a0sectors\u00a0in the community\u00a0to\u00a0host\u00a0several\u00a0Naloxone\u00a0trainings.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDuring this unprecedented time, we are working hard to find new ways to connect our youth, parents and community together even while separated,\u201d said Hijazi. \u201cWe are fully\u00a0aware of the uncertainty\u00a0and destabilization brought by the current COVID-19 pandemic,\u00a0and our shared responsibility of preventing substance misuse continues to be as essential as it has ever been.\u00a0Because of this, we started several webinars,\u00a0trainings, media campaign\u00a0and\u00a0consistent\u00a0youth meetings.\u00a0We started our virtual trainings by engaging our youth members to take the lead on topics that enable them to make healthy choices\u00a0whilst refraining from substance use. Our webinars covered the importance of mindfulness,\u00a0coping with depression and anxiety, vaping and hookah, and more. Another successful training was our Advocacy Training that was hosted in collaborating with Take on Hate \u2013 a national campaign of ACCESS. This training served as an introduction to advocacy, shedding light on substance use policies.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBoth the ACCESS Substance Abuse Program Community Coalition and the Substance Use and Tobacco Prevention program commit to social distancing guidelines during this\u00a0pandemic,\u201d said Hijazi. \u201cOur primary commitment is to the health and safety of all community members.\u00a0Nevertheless,\u00a0we already adjusted how we\u00a0work,\u00a0and\u00a0will continue to find ways to educate,\u00a0connect and\u00a0engage\u00a0with\u00a0our community.\u00a0We are\u00a0currently\u00a0working closely with school\u00a0administration\u00a0to host bilingual seminars\u00a0where\u00a0all meetings will take place virtually.\u00a0We also aspire to host multiple future webinars.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is\u00a0vital\u00a0that we proceed with\u00a0our\u00a0prevention efforts\u00a0within\u00a0Crestwood Public School District,\u201d said Hijazi. \u201cWe\u00a0are\u00a0committed\u00a0to continue working with\u00a0Crestwood Schools and their\u00a0leadership, in hopes of engaging\u00a0more\u00a0parents, youth and staff.\u00a0We also aspire to connect\u00a0with\u00a0the\u00a0District\u00a0PTA.\u00a0We have successfully\u00a0developed and implemented\u00a0parent dialogues and presentations in Macomb County and would like to do the same in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights.\u00a0We are\u00a0committed to\u00a0culturally competent\u00a0prevention\u00a0methods\u00a0and\u00a0our team\u00a0is\u00a0always\u00a0open to any\u00a0ideas, topics\u00a0or suggestions\u00a0that\u00a0work best\u00a0for schools.<\/p>\n \u201cASAP celebrated National Prevention Week this year by hosting weekly webinars to 140 attendees throughout the week,\u201d said Hijazi. \u201cWe honored Red Ribbon Week through social media platforms, a youth meeting featuring a jeopardy game on mental health and substance use and by attending a local food drive where we provided community members with educational resources on Red Ribbon Week and gave attendees a red ribbon to tie on their cars.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDuring these difficult times, my advice is to be patient and open to new ideas,\u201d said Hijazi. \u201cTake the time to be mindful of your community and involve your coalition in more community events such as food drives and COVID testing sites. Provide your schools, parents and youth with flexible options to work on our prevention efforts. I also advise you to be mindful of yourself and your coalition members.\u00a0 With busy work schedules and working extra hard to keep the community engaged, we tend to forget we need time for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe plan to attend CADCA\u2019s National Leadership Forum this February,\u201d said Hijazi. \u201cOur youth loved the Virtual Mid-Year and they can\u2019t wait to experience Forum.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThe ACCESS Substance Abuse Program (ASAP) Community Coalition formed in response to substance use concerns in the Arab-American community of<\/p>","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":13372,"template":"","resource_type":[281],"drug_specific_issues":[],"action_to_do":[],"class_list":["post-17104","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resource_type-coalitions-online"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n