Youth Coalition hosts student-led forum, with goals of health, wellness – The Vacaville Reporter

By Richard Bammer

With the goal of creating a safer and healthier community, nine active Solano Friday Night Live programs will host a series of activities focusing on student advocacy, health and wellness in coordination with the Solano Youth Coalition.

Beginning Wednesday, the FNL at Sem Yeto Continuation High in Fairfield will host Denim Day, in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, during which students and school staff are encouraged to wear denim.

Also on Wednesday, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., the Youth Coalition will host its first student-led education forum for middle and high school students. Superintendents and school board presidents from Solano County districts will discuss student issues and how to support students. The forum will be at the Solano County Office of Education, 5100 Business Center Drive, Fairfield.

Source: Youth Coalition hosts student-led forum, with goals of health, wellness – The Vacaville Reporter

Youth Coalition to bring awareness to child abuse prevention – Daily Republic

Members of the Solano Youth Coalition’s Family Justice Committee will be placing blue pinwheels in the lawn area in front of the Vacaville City Hall and police station on Thursday.

The event is being held to raise awareness about the importance of preventing child abuse. April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

The students will begin the work at 7:30 a.m.

Source: Youth Coalition to bring awareness to child abuse prevention

Supervisors establish $3 million Housing Trust Fund – Daily Republic

The Solano County supervisors on Tuesday introduced the ordinance that will establish the Solano County Housing Trust Fund.

The board then confirmed its previous commitment of $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars to the fund, with $200,000 annually from the Community Investment Fund supporting future housing projects.

The fund is designed to support housing projects for very low- to moderate-income households, in part to provide more housing stock to deal with homeless program needs.

Source: Supervisors establish $3 million Housing Trust Fund

Solano ‘ignites’ its imagination with art show at fairgrounds – Times-Herald

By Thomas Gase

The future is bright for Solano County artists.

McCormack Hall at the Solano County Fairgrounds was host Saturday to the best and brightest young artists as the Solano County Department of Education put together the event “Solano Art Showcase: Ignite” which displayed 400 pieces of art by students from 24 different schools and grades ranging from fourth to 12th.

Other partners helping put together the presentation were Fighting Back Partnership, Solano Youth Resiliency Summit, Solano Friday Night Live Partner, Rio Vista ATOD Alliance, VibeSolano and Nature of Sound.

Source: Solano ‘ignites’ its imagination with art show at fairgrounds – Times-Herald

Friday Night Live student chapter advocates for teen wellness – The Reporter

Friday Night Live (FNL) student chapters across Solano County are actively engaging their communities in an effort to improve health and wellness for teens. Over 100 youth throughout Solano County participate in a local FNL chapters, working on a variety of projects surrounding substance use prevention and its connection to mental health and wellness, violence prevention, social justice and equity.

The Solano Youth Coalition (SYC) is facilitated by the Solano County Office of Education (SCOE) and serves as the umbrella chapter of the Solano FNL programs. SYC meets with local leaders, councils and boards to discuss local policies that effect health and safety for students and to share the work local FNL charters have accomplished throughout the year. Members of SYC met with Solano County Superintendent of Schools, Lisette Estrella-Henderson, to highlight their work, discussed topics affecting Solano County students.

Source: Friday Night Live student chapter advocates for teen wellness – The Reporter

Benicia High club creates video to help peers deal with Covid-19 stress – Daily Republic

The Benicia High School Youth Advocacy Club made a video presentation at the recent statewide Virtual Youth Summit as a resource to help peers cope with the stresses of Covid-19 and distance learning.

“The result is a video and presentation on Brain Dance, a full body-brain exercise that reduces stress, increases levels of the feel-good hormone serotonin, and helps develop new neural connections,” according to a statement released by the Solano County Office of Education.

“We created brain dance to give young developing minds a way to grow,” sophomore club member Lillian Theis said in the statement. “We thought making a video would be a fun and beneficial way to reach younger audiences.”

Source: Benicia High club creates video to help peers deal with Covid-19 stress

SCOE celebrates Friday Night Live Month – The Reporter

By Nick Sestanovich

Live from Solano County, it’s Friday Night Live!

Yes, even as school campuses remain closed because of the coronavirus, the Solano County Office of Education is raising awareness of the work students are doing to promote positive changes through the Friday Night Live (FNL) program.

After all, April is Friday Night Live Month.

FNL was established in 1984 to address the issue of underage driving under the influence by promoting youth lifestyles free of alcohol and other drugs. Today, the program is available in 47 counties throughout California and has chapters in nearly 600 schools, community centers, juvenile halls and housing projects.

Source: SCOE celebrates Friday Night Live Month – The Reporter

Benicia High FNL earns award for tobacco-free efforts – Daily Republic

By Daily Republic Staff

The Benicia High School Friday Night Live club has received the Alvina Sheeley Memorial Advocate Award from the Tobacco Free Solano Coalition.

The award was presented last week by Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson at the coalition’s annual luncheon meeting.

“I was impressed when seven members of the club confidently stood in front of me and the rest of the council, staff and residents of Benicia on (Nov. 19) and spoke to us about the effects of tobacco on their peers and their campus,” Patterson said in a prepared statement. “Speaking from a personal perspective, when youth stand up and tell adults who are making decisions about their lives and about their future, by-golly you will see those decision-makers make the right decision.”

Source: Benicia High FNL earns award for tobacco-free efforts

Benicia High’s Friday Night Live club wins award with PSA – Times-Herald

By Thomas Gase

Benicia High’s Friday Night Live film club is offering citizens a potential glimpse of a better, healthier future. Call it a teaser if you will.

The high school’s Friday Night Live club recently won an award for a public service announcement (PSA) on Tobacco Use Prevention. The club’s nearly-two minute video is already being featured as a preview before movies at the Brenden Theatre in Vacaville and is in the works to be shown in Vallejo theaters by the end of the year.

The clip, which was put together by current and recently graduated Benicia High students, features no dialogue, but the silhouette of a club actor, Josh Hathaway, smoking a cigarette that then produces smoke which forms certain words like cancer and lung disease. Meanwhile other actors’ silhouettes are seen coughing or falling while an ambient score rolls in the background.

Source: Benicia High’s Friday Night Live club wins award with PSA – Times-Herald

Program shows choices behind wheel can mean difference between life, death – Daily Republic

By Amy Maginnis-Honey

Vanden High School senior Maddy Denajer began driving a few months ago.

She’s been a member of the school’s Friday Night Live chapter since her freshmen year. The program builds partnerships for positive and healthy youth development with a focus on alcohol, tobacco, traffic safety, gambling and drugs.

Denajer joined other Vanden students Monday for Impact Teen Drivers, a program that emphasizes the dangers of reckless and distracted driving.

“When I started behind the wheel, I thought, ‘this isn’t as easy as I thought,’ ” Denajer said.

Source: Program shows choices behind wheel can mean difference between life, death

3 Solano Friday Night Live chapters receive grants – Daily Republic

By Daily Republic Staff

The Friday Night Live chapters at Armijo and Vanden high schools, and at the Solano Youth Coalition, have received grants from the state organization.

Chapters will use the funds to create campaigns to educate the public on the “statistics, warning signs and consequences of problem gambling.” They have until May 2018 to complete the gambling prevention curriculum that targets adults ages 18 to 54 and underage gamblers younger than 18.

Source: 3 Solano Friday Night Live chapters receive grants

Benicia High’s FNL club wins tobacco PSA contest, gets recognized by state – Benicia Herald

By Nick Sestanovich

Benicia High School’s Friday Night Live club had a good week. Not only did it win first place for a tobacco education PSA, it also was recognized by the state.

Johanna Nowak-Palmer, Solano County Office of Education’s (SCOE) program manager for youth development and special events, stopped by at the club’s Thursday meeting to deliver the good news.

“You guys were registered as an official club last school year, but you have been active for over a year now, so the state now recognizes you as an active club that is part of the California Friday Night Live network throughout the state,” she said. “You are now part of the thousands of students who do this work.

”Friday Night Live is a statewide organization aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles among teens by preventing alcohol, tobacco and substance abuse. The organization has several student chapters at secondary schools throughout the state, and a club was established at Benicia High last year. Physical education teacher Dean Gor serves as adviser, and sophomore Kirsten Lambinicio serves as president. The club meets every Thursday at lunch.

Source: Benicia High’s FNL club wins tobacco PSA contest, gets recognized by state

Solano County Office of Education lands grant to deter underage drinking – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

If you want to get a message across to young people, who better to do it than their peers?

So when the issues are distracted driving and driving under the influence, Vanden and Benicia high students have a few things to tell not only their fellow teens but also plenty of adults.

“Texting is extremely distracting, checking your phone while driving rather than holding off until you’re parked or have reached your destination,” Nav Khana, Sameer Syed and Emery Coh, all members of Friday Night Live (FNL), said in a press release issued Tuesday by the Solano County Office of Education. “Use of a hand-held device was the most common distraction we observed.”

Their statement comes on the heels of FNL members who participated in Roadwatch — an annual observational survey administered by the California Friday Night Live Partnership (CFNLP), with funding from the Allstate Foundation.

 

Source: Solano County Office of Education lands grant to deter underage drinking

Vanden High School’s Friday Night Live educates peers on dangers of underage drinking – The Reporter

By Dom Pruett

It seems everyone has been affected by a fatal teenage automobile accident in one way or another.

Whether it be a friend or family member, the numbers that back up this assertion are staggering.

In a joint effort between Vanden High School’s Friday Night Live club, the Solano County Office of Education, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, underage drinking — and its correlation to driving — was brought to light Wednesday evening at Vanden High School’s “Little Theater.”

In front of a group of students sitting in on the presentation, Vanden senior and Friday Night Live president Hannah Thueson talked about the dangers of drinking and driving and what she hoped her peers would gain that evening.

Source: Vanden High School’s Friday Night Live educates peers on dangers of underage drinking

Underage drinking awareness town hall meeting at Vanden tonight – The Reporter

Vanden High School Friday Night Live (FNL) is hosting a Town Hall meeting Wednesday at 6 p.m., 2951 Markley Lane, Fairfield, in the school’s Little Theater.

The meeting is free and open to all parents, youth, educators, and community members interested in learning more about underage drinking and driving among teens and youth drivers. The California Highway Patrol will present the Impact Teen Drivers program to discuss the dangers of drinking and driving along with the local statistics of driving deaths related to alcohol. Attendees will have the chance to ask questions and hold important conversations about this topic after the presentation.

Vanden FNL believes that no teen should waste their life getting wasted. They want to enlighten the community about the dangers of drinking and driving while getting parents more involved in making safe driving choices with their teens, especially at a time of year where celebrations, such as prom and graduation, will be happening.

via: Underage drinking awareness

Friday Night Live seeks parent audience for town hall meet – Daily Republic

By  Bill Hicks

“We need to have a little talk” is often something parents say to their children. For an upcoming Friday Night Live town hall meeting, a group of Vanden High School students are turning that statement around not only on their own parents, but on all parents.

The meeting, which will feature presentations by the California Highway Patrol and other groups, is the first of several efforts designed by Vanden’s Friday Night Live organizers to help both teens and their parents.

Source: Friday Night Live seeks parent audience for town hall meet