Prevention spotlight: Concrete Resource Coalition

In Concrete, WA, several families (pictured below)–a total of 26 people–graduated from the Strengthening Families Program (SFP) in March, after completing more than 17 hours of training over a seven-week period. SFP is an evidence-based family skills training program for parents, caregivers, and youth that teaches parenting, life, and refusal skills to increase family protective factors and reduce individual and family risk factors associated with later substance misuse, mental health problems, and delinquency. Facilitation was provided through a joint effort by SAPs from ESD 189 and coalition members. 

The Concrete Resource Coalition (CRC) has successfully implemented Strengthening Families many times over the years, but participation has been down post-pandemic. The CRC went back to basics and worked hard to meet families where they are to learn about they needed. To build capacity, the CRC developed a unique blend of parent supports using a mix of printed pamphlets, social media, and in-person training events on various topics important to their community. This work led to the graduation of their largest cohort of SFP participants since 2019. The CRC is already planning on how to build on this success and reach more families in the future. 

In addition to family support, Concrete is well known for their youth-led prevention activities. The Concrete Prevention Posse, based in the middle/high school, has completed and presented on several rounds of the Community Assessment of Neighborhood Stores (CANS), designed to improve retail environments by reducing advertising and product placement of alcohol and other substances.

The Helpful Turtles, based at Concrete Elementary, are using PAX principles to expand their Kindness Wall project by visiting classrooms to talk about how kindness can have a chain reaction and inviting peers to add to their paper chain of kind actions and ideas. All this is anchored in the annual and beloved Concrete Youth Activity Day, which draws 500 people every year, and has games, crafts, and connections to 30+ youth serving organizations. The popularity of this event leads to increased engagement with key leaders and “hard-to-reach” community members.

The CRC coordinator, Stephanie Morgareidge, is happy to share ideas or strategies. If you’d like to know more about their work or get in touch, visit the CRC's website.