Peer Leadership Conference
A county-wide event for local middle school and high school students. The conference provides a platform for teens to participate in learning activities that aid in the development of leadership skills, and promote responsible citizenship, positive lifestyles, and healthy relationships. Peer Leadership Conference serves as a forum for Cape May County students to exchange ideas, make new friends, and receive recognition for the accomplishments of their Peer Leadership groups.
Public Service Announcement Contest
Empowers students to use their voice and raise awareness on issues affecting the youth of today. Themes range from substance misuse prevention to building resiliency, and everything in between. Students from schools in Cape May County create and submit written PSAs, videos, and artwork, and multiple winners are chosen by the HCC Coalition. The PSAs are then incorporated within Cape Assist’s programs, promoted on social media, and played on the radio to spread the messages and raise awareness.
Spring Awards Breakfast
An event where the HCC coalition congratulates the PSA Contest winners and recognizes Community Partners in Prevention. Students proudly display or read their PSAs to an audience of their peers, elected officials, parents, teachers, and school administrators. It is always a great photo opportunity for guests and participants.
Fall Networking Breakfast
An annual event where the coalition members and partners gather to network and learn. It is an opportunity to deepen community connections and build new ones. The event speakers highlight the ways multiple sectors of the community can come together and collaborate for a common goal of strengthening our community through building resiliency and substance misuse prevention.
Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day (KOOAD)
A statewide single-day initiative (usually October 6th) that mobilizes the prevention and treatment communities, community leaders, and concerned citizens to raise awareness of the potential for dependency on prescribed pain medicine and its link to heroin abuse rates in our state. The HCC Coalition engages multiple partners to ensure the message reaches all sectors of our community and raises awareness of available resources.
P.R.I.D.E. Committee
Formed as an extension of the HCC Coalition in 2013 in response to the opioid epidemic. Together, the HCC and P.R.I.D.E. conduct bi-annual Pride surveys for Cape May county students. The survey gauges risk and protective factors and attitudes and beliefs around substance misuse. The data is presented to community partners at the annual P.R.I.D.E. conference along with a variety of trainings on issues identified in the survey.
School Resiliency Teams (SRT)
Created in Cape May County in 2018 as a collaborative effort with the CMC P.R.I.D.E. Committee and the HCC Coalition. The SRTs support and promote a trauma-sensitive and trauma-responsive school environment that’s based on Safety, Connections, and the Ability to Regulate Emotions. These teams continually learn and evolve through intensive trainings, and also receive ongoing technical assistance and support.