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Dear Alliance Members,
A message from Tom Begich:
"Alliance Policy Workgroup members joined other members of the Alliance in Juneau at the Prevention Summit this past month and, with a little written information and some peroration, a number were able to meet with Legislators and advocate for key issues to the Alliance and their own communities. In particular, members expressed a need for modification of SB 15 that would lower the age for teens to serve alcohol in restaurants and distilleries to ensure that youth were kept safe and venues held responsible for their safety (Shout out to Tiffany and Recover Alaska for formulating much of this response!).
Other advocacy was for State appropriations to be maintained for substance use and mental health and to ensure an increase in education funding to ensure a safe and productive school environment, with funding to ensure appropriate staffing for teachers, counselors and other support staff. Different members from Klawock to Mat Su met with their legislators or their staff and learned how to appropriately follow up their visits. We hope for more formal training in the coming years for members to ensure that we maintain an effective presence in the policy forum.
We will be reaching out either later this month or in early May to encourage a follow up visit to Juneau to ensure our budget priorities are addressed. As always, all members are welcome to attend Policy Workgroup meetings. For more information on meeting times, please reach out to either Tesia Bobrycki or Tom Begich”
Warm regards,
Tom Begich and Tesia Bobrycki
Alliance Coordinator
tbobrycki@recoveralaska.org
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Walk for Prevention in Chickaloon Native Village
Learn more HERE.
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Spirit of Youth Coalition Meeting
& Behavioral Needs Assessment Results
See the image below for information on the upcoming Coalition Meeting.
Click HERE to see the results of the statewide Behavioral Needs Assessment.
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Anchorage Youth Speak Out Event - April 19th
Anchorage Youth Speak Out (AYSO) event, the focus of this event is youth sharing their stories about recover and addiction, to inform community regarding challenges that youth are facing with substances in Anchorage. The focus of this AYSO event will be e-cigarettes and vapes.
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Alliance Member Peer Interview Sessions
This month, share your thoughts and perspectives about all we’ve done this year as a network at one of our peer interview sessions hosted by the evaluation team. During these sessions, you’ll pair off with another member to do short interviews, with plenty of guidance from the evaluators. No special skills are needed – if you can hold a conversation, you can do a peer interview! Keep an eye out for calendar invites, or email Hanna (hanna@stellargp.com) to join us on April 15th, 17th, or 18th.
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My Best Alaskan Life: Youth-Driven Wellness for Alaska's Future
My Best Alaskan Life is a community-based research initiative focused on supporting Alaska teens in navigating their mental, sexual, and relational health. Co-developed with youth, educators, healthcare providers, and state agencies, the project produced a digital tool that helps teens prepare for clinical visits, explore healthy relationships, identify trusted adults, and build personal wellness plans. Grounded in youth participatory action research and guided by the lived experiences of Alaska’s young people, MBAL offers a culturally responsive, strengths-based approach to health education and access.
Learn more: https://www.mybestalaskanlife.com/
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Introducing Recover Alaska's 2025 Sober Heroes!
Join us in celebrating Sean Wisner of Valdez, Emma Hill of Anchorage, Kimberly Larson of Dillingham, and Kathleen Naneng of Bethel - four incredible individuals making a powerful impact on the recovery community.
Their stories of strength, resilience, and hope are nothing short of inspiring.
Watch their journey unfold HERE.
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Thank you to everyone who joined our webinar about the new Alaska Resource Guide to Healing and Hope.
You can watch a replay of the webinar HERE.
The Passcode for the webinar is: a3%o*6%6
You can read the Resource Guide HERE.
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Funding Opportunity: Drug-Free Communities Support Program
The CDC has released the FY 2025 Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program, the nation’s leading initiative to prevent youth substance use. Eligible organizations can apply for Year 1 or Year 6 funding, with a submission deadline of May 5, 2025.
For more details on eligibility and application requirements, visit the DFC program website.
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988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Dear Community Members,
As we continue through the remaining winter months, it’s vital to acknowledge the mental health challenges many people face—especially given Alaska’s historically high suicide rates. Now more than ever, making sure everyone has access to life-saving crisis resources is critical.
To help meet this need, we have developed a culturally relevant advertisement for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. This graphic was intentionally designed to resonate with Alaska Native and American Indian communities, where culturally aligned outreach can play a key role in building trust, reducing stigma, and encouraging help-seeking behavior.
My hope is that this message reaches every village and every community across Alaska.
Thank you for being part of the solution and for helping spread hope and healing throughout our state.
Respectfully,
Brenda Hannah, Fairbanks Native Association
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About The Alliance
The Alliance is a collaborative effort of multiple and diverse partners across Alaska who recognize the impacts of alcohol misuse on individuals and communities. We are personally and professionally committed to working together to address this complex problem in our state.
Our primary goal is to connect and engage communities as partners — increasing protective factors, reducing risk factors, and changing social norms — to prevent underage alcohol use and eliminate adult misuse in Alaska.
Alliance Materials
Get Involved
Between starting new work and sustaining our progress, there are many opportunities to participate in The Alliance! All current workgroups are open to any member who would like to join. You can always read more about our workgroups and their purpose on the Get Involved page of our website. Our network practices an emergent strategy, and we update information based on our network's needs.
- The Communications/Social Norms Workgroup will be supporting the social norms campaign and The Alliance's various other internal and external communications needs. The Comms Workgroup meets on the second Tuesday of each month from 1-2 pm.
- The Data and Learning Workgroup will be supporting data equity conversations and practices.
- The Evaluation and Learning Workgroup is where members can participate in developing and overseeing the process of reflecting on the work of the network to identify what is working well and where more attention may be needed so we can continue to develop and grow.
- The Strategy and Design Workgroup builds structures and processes for the network to work in alignment with our values and theory of change.
You are welcome to ask questions about those workgroups or to ask to join any of them.
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We want your participation in The Alliance to be a source of energy and inspiration. If receiving regular newsletters detracts from that purpose, feel free to unsubscribe by clicking the button below. Please also feel welcome to email us directly to request that you receive no further communications regarding upcoming events, calendar invitations, or other community notices. Thank you for being here!
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