Join Milwaukee’s prevention community in celebrating Light and Unite Red Week January 22-27 in conjunction with National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week as we engage youth and parents in prevention, encourage treatment, and support recovery. Light & Unite Red is a community-wide prevention committee led by the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division (BHD). 

 Throughout the week, several schools and youth organizations in Milwaukee County are encouraging their students to wear red, the national color for substance abuse awareness. Many will also host activities, including COA Youth & Family Center’s Light & Unite Red Family Fun Night from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. on January 24 at 2320 W. Burleigh St., Milwaukee. This Family Fun Night will offer a community resource fair, five interactive substance use prevention breakout sessions, Milwaukee’s largest family line dance-a-thon complete with a DJ from v100 , food for the first 250 participants, and more.

Visit the Light & Unite Red website for more information and a complete listing of events scheduled to take place during the week. Click here for more information on National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week and how you can get involved.

Call for Vendors

Want to reach parents and kids who are interested in preventing and ending substance abuse? Sign up to be a vendor at Light & Unite Red Family Fun Night by January 14. Download the vendor information sheet here.

The Southeast Region of the Alliance for Wisconsin Youth is sponsoring this presentation by Stephanie Strutner, MPH, CPSII, Executive Director of ASAP of Anderson , on the importance of evaluation for coalitions. Participants will take a deep dive into effective evaluation, tools, and storytelling. While this presentation is primarily targeted toward AWY members, anyone working within a coalition can attend. This training will be held on Thursday, January 24, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Community Advocates Public Policy Institute’s Training Center, 6900 W. Brown Deer Road, Milwaukee. RSVPs are required here for this no-cost event.

Mental Health America of Wisconsin (MHA) is inviting applications from eligible entities to participate in the WI Zero Suicide Training on June 20 and 21 in Eau Claire. This training will walk participants through the seven elements of the Zero Suicide toolkit, providing background about the resources and rationale for each and descriptions about how different types of organizations have implemented these elements in Wisconsin and elsewhere. The organizers ask for teams of at least four individuals from health/behavioral health care organizations to attend. A one-year learning community is included for training participants. Download the Call for Applications here. 

To confirm the seriousness of youth vaping, the State Health Officer issued a health advisory earlier this month “ to inform the public about the alarming statistics on current e-cigarette use among youth in Wisconsin.” How alarming? A shocking one out of five Wisconsin high school students use e-cigarettes. The health advisory includes stats, a description of forms of e-cigarettes, and resources for parents, teachers, health professionals, and community and state leaders .

This no-cost six-week supportive community is a welcoming space for parents of children of any age. Learn from your peers, share experiences, and take active steps toward intentional parenting. The Parent Wellness Circle meets Tuesdays from January 15 through February 19, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. at Bay Shore Lutheran Church, 1200 E. Hampton, Whitefish Bay. Bring a lunch! Sponsored by REDgen, Parent Wellness Compass, and Samaritan Family Wellness Foundation. Register here.

Calling all social service providers, advocates, and consumers! The Empowerment Coalition of Milwaukee, sponsored by Community Advocates, will hold this discussion of entitlement updates and W-2/Milwaukee County at the United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County, 225 W. Vine St., Milwaukee, from 9 a.m. to noon.

Advance registration is required for all workshops. Admission is $5; please pay in advance or on the day of the workshop.  Click here for details and to RSVP.

Milwaukee Record’s Local Coverage benefit will return to Turner Hall Ballroom on Friday, January 18, when an eclectic cast of seven local acts from all corners of the stylistic spectrum will each play 15-minute sets, covering material of artists they personally selected from the pool of participating projects.

From Direct Hit! adapting the music of Nickel&Rose, Paper Holland re-imagining Immortal Girlfriend, and Amanda Huff covering LUXI shortly after LUXI gives an electronic re-dressing to the ska stylings of Something To Do, Local Coverage is an incomparable event for a great cause. All proceeds will be donated to  Milwaukee Women’s Center, a division of Community Advocates. Get details and buy a ticket here.

EMPOWER-MKE is a bi-annual citizen advocacy, resource, and informational summit launched by Senator LaTonya Johnson and the 6th Senate District in January 2018, in order to bring all stakeholders together for thoughtful discussions about important and relevant topics. The January 26 summit will cover housing and tenants' rights.

Community Advocates Housing Department Manager Shawanna Lindenberg will participate on the panel.

Empower MKE will be held on Saturday, January 26, from 9 to 11:30 a.m., at Washington Park Senior Center, 4420 W. Vliet St., Milwaukee. Please RSVP by Friday, January 18, to Senator Johnson's office at 414-313-1241 or  [email protected].

Bystander Intervention training will focus on ways to intervene in public instances of racist, sexist, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, anti-Trans, and other forms of oppressive interpersonal violence and harassment while considering the safety of all parties. This workshop includes a learning segment of tips and strategies, how to document, knowing your rights as an intervener, and practice scenarios constructed on ways to show up and support a diversity of identities through an intersectional lens, both as the intervener and the person experiencing harm. It will be held at United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County, 225 W. Vine St., Milwaukee, from 2 to 4 p.m. on January 28. Register here .

Learn how mental health and substance abuse risk connect at this January 30 wellness event sponsored by Community Alliance: Hales Corners and Greendale Communities , the Hales Corners Health Department, and Greendale Schools. A wellness resource fair featuring local vendors offering a wide variety of wellness services and resources will be offered from 5:45 to 7 p.m. A speaker panel (speakers to be announced soon) is scheduled from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Greendale's 8th grade health advocacy projects will also be on display. Adults and youth ages 12 and up are encouraged to attend. It will be held at Greendale High School, 6801 Southway, Greendale. Learn more on Facebook or call 414-423-2110.

PSGM is launching a quarterly book club to read and discuss books relevant to mental health and suicide. Their first book is the play Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan, which will be performed by the Milwaukee Rep April 12-28. ( Tickets here.) The book club will meet on Monday, February 11, from 6:15 to 7:45 p.m. at the Milwaukee Public Library Central Library, 814 W. Wisconsin Ave. RSVP by emailing Dr. Bob DuBois at [email protected].

From SAMHSA: This one and a half hour webinar features a discussion about the relationship and intersection between the growing opioid and suicide crises and what prevention strategies and approaches can be used to address them at the national and state level.