Who We Are
Our Vision
The Northland communities will be healthy and safe environments in which to raise children
Our Mission
Through community involvement, leadership, and the sharing of resources, the Northland Coalition promotes and encourages the positive, healthy, and safe lifestyle decisions of our youth.
History and Background
The Northland Coalition was formed in 2001 to fulfill the articulated need for better collaboration of substance use prevention programs and strategies throughout the Kansas City Northland. The Coalition meets monthly to strategize and rally support to prevent high risk behaviors among youth including the use of alcohol, tobacco/nicotine, products, marijuana, other illicit drugs, prescription drug misuse, and suicide prevention throughout Clay, Platte and Ray Counties. Since 2001, the Northland Coalition has received both regional and national recognition for their program and policy outcomes.
Structure
The Northland Coalition is the regional “umbrella” coalition servicing Clay, Platte, and Ray Counties. Underneath this “umbrella” are 20 local coalitions, determined by school district boundaries, saturating the three-county area. This means that no matter where you live in Clay, Platte, or Ray County, there is a local coalition in your area. Coalition membership is open to anyone! If you are interested in keeping our community safe and healthy, your involvement is encouraged. Parents, schools, businesses, law enforcement, health agencies, community leaders, and religious institutions all play an important role in creating a safe and healthy environment for our youth to thrive. The Northland Coalition serves to help make this possible.
Get Involved
Interested in joining the Northland Coalition? Please fill out the form below to begin receiving coalition updates and meeting reminders! Click here to find out what it means to be a Northland Coalition member. Your level of involvement level is up to you. These levels are categorized as:
Helping Hands: You will be placed on a contact list where we will reach out to you for specific projects that we need volunteer support for. Examples might be: helping with set up or take down at a community event or helping stuff information bags for a health fair.
Coalition Member: You will be placed on a contact list to participate in monthly coalition meetings. These meetings are held from 11:30a-1:00p on the 3rd Wednesday of every month. These meetings consist of educating members on local issues related to substance use prevention and building youth resiliency, and updates on regional efforts. Meetings also provide information on training opportunities.
Supporting Member: You may not be able to attend meetings regularly, but are familiar with the work of the coalition and support prevention efforts.
Sector Representative: You will be an identified member of our Coalition Steering Committee. The steering committee meets quarterly; dates and times vary. As the sector representative you will be asked to serve as a liaison between their sector and the work of the coalition. The steering committee also assists in planning and implementation of coalition events (i.e. Northland Prevention Conference) and regional campaigns.
What is Prevention?
Prevention is a relatively new science. Substance use prevention aims at population level change using a public health approach. Comprehensive strategies to address youth substance use are built using the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) Model. Because these programs are not ‘`one size fits all”, they are designed to be adaptable for each community. The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) is a great resource to learn more about prevention. Some of their resources include Primers that detail each step of the SPF process, webinars, and other training resources. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is another great resource!
