Gunnison County Substance Abuse Prevention Project, better known as GCSAPP, is celebrating 20 years of service in the Gunnison valley. On Wednesday, May 27, the program is throwing a block party to celebrate the successes of the community coalition. The event will even be emceed by a KBUT DJ.
GCSAPP’s goal for these past two decades has been to reduce substance abuse in Gunnison valley’s youth and promote healthy activities. Its purpose is to provide youth and their families with engagement, education and healthy activities so they can stay connected with their community, make healthier choices and delay substance use.
The efforts by GCSAPP help Gunnison youth be proactive in their prevention efforts.
The party, which will take over most of Georgia Avenue behind the juvenile services building, serves purely as a means of community connection. Emily Mirza, deputy juvenile services dDirector and GCSAPP program manager, wants to help the community acknowledge all the work that’s happened in the past 20 years, plus the staff and partners that have worked to make it happen.
“Everyone who works with youth in the community has helped to move this effort forward," said Mirza.
The celebration will be from 4 to 6 p.m. and is open to all community members, as this effort has been a collective one.
Some of the most notable successes since the program's inception in 2006 are still active in the community. This includes the implementation of Choice Pass in 2011, a youth healthy choice program that currently has 600 secondary students involved. Former Gunnison high schooler and current Western student Gracelyn Roberts helped to extend the efforts of GCSAPP by creating a map of Choice Pass perks for students. She explained that much of her effort was to create more spaces for connection between her classmates aside from the halls at school. She noted that a small community, even one as tight knit as Gunnison, often lacks those third spaces where community members can simply be together.
Also, the 2016 initiative Sources of Strength, a peer-led suicide prevention program started in the Gunnison Middle School. Similarly, the Youth Wellness Program, a youth created mental health program to help peers connect with free therapy sessions from local therapists. To fill a much needed hole in the valley, an in-person driver’s education course was implemented in 2020. Lastly, a partnership with CB State of Mind to paint a Mountain Express Bus in 2022 to bring awareness to mental health challenges in the valley.
GCSAPP is excited to celebrate this momentous occasion with the people who made it all possible.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here