Two Newtown Youth Services Projects Getting Air On Cable 21

By John Voket

They may not enjoy the prestige of, say, network television, but two recent projects featuring volunteers and initiatives supported by Newtown Youth Services will enjoy a level of exposure only available locally on CommuniTyVision21. A professionally produced Public Service Announcement (PSA) is already running in regular rotation on the local cable channel, and a candid two-part series called Positive Choices features a professional facilitator talking with local youths about their concerns and challenges is due to premier in prime time next Thursday evening.

Nina Allred, a prevention services project coordinator for NYS, was previewing the series earlier this week at the CommuniTyVision21 studios on Commerce Road. She explained that while the PSA and two-part panel series are aimed at different demographics of viewers, the project outcomes may be one in the same.

“The two-part panel series features frank discussions between local high school students Shannon Hayes, Linda Chamiec-Case, Jennifer Lassogna, Tony and Rita Magliocco, and Wendy Davenson, a Newtown substance abuse professional,” Ms Allred said. “The program initiates a discussion about the kinds of issues facing young people, especially the pressures they face with alcohol and other substances that become available to them.”

Ms Allred believes the series, which premiers part one at 7:30 pm on August 18 and follows up with part two one week later, is aimed at educating parents while hopefully inspiring healthy dialog between parents and their children.

“This program really presents a candid and accurate view of what our children in Newtown and elsewhere are facing every day in our culture,” she said. “And it’s not just the temptations they are faced with among their peers. On a national level parents are probably immune to the tremendous effort being put forth today to market alcoholic beverages to our children.”

According to Ms Allred, young people are constantly barraged with images of other young people consuming alcohol on television programs, in music videos, on movie screens and in print ads, radio and TV commercials. Fortunately, she said, the Connecticut Coalition to Stop Underage Drinking stated recently that efforts like those being put forth by CommuniTyVision21, the Newtown Prevention Council, and other similar groups may be working.

“Sixty percent of our target group, young people between the ages of 12 and 17, are reporting they are drinking alcohol less frequently than in previous surveys,” she said. “Parents and adults need to know that our kids are trying harder to make the right choices, and now we need those parents and adults to support them and to be more positively involved in their lives.”

However, Ms Allred also cited national statistics that indicate the alcohol being consumed by underage individuals is more frequently being provided by parents, older siblings, and other adults. She said this trend sends a terrible message to young people who have enough trouble resisting their peers offering them illegal substances, and reminded parents of the recently enacted ordinance in Newtown providing fines for parents who serve or even inadvertently provide access to alcoholic beverages.

Youth Services Director Tony Tozzi believes projects like these give a voice to young people, who up until a generation or two ago, were basically told how to act, dress, and how to affect change in their own community.

“Over the past 20 years or so, things have been changing for the better,” Mr Tozzi said. “And I’m proud to be involved in a community like Newtown that is reaching out and inviting the participation and the voices of youth in local matters.”

Mr Tozzi said that even younger parents come from a different era of social understanding, and he believes the panel program will go far to illustrate how in touch local young people are with the challenges they are facing, or will be facing, as they move into young adulthood.

“It’s important that we hear directly from young people about the issues affecting them,” he said. “This program gives our teens an opportunity to have their voices heard, and for them to solicit a higher level of respect for what they are facing out there every day, even in small communities like Newtown,” Mr Tozzi said.

The PSA, which has been running on CommuniTyVision21 for several weeks now, was created by a local producer Christian Baker and is titled, “Choose Not To Use.” The SUNY student used local extras including a few of the teens who also appeared in the discussion series, and filmed the spot in the converted home that now houses the NYS offices, Ms Allred said.

“The PSA is part of an ongoing campaign to provide positive peer models to youth who are at a greater risk for underage drinking,” she explained. “And I think it is very effective in getting the point across that it’s not cool to drink, and that it is cool if you choose not to use.”

Ms Allred said the PSA and the ongoing initiative that inspired it, involves students who participate in the NYS WIRED (We Invite Rethinking about Engaging in Drugs and Drinking) program, and the SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) initiative in the Newtown school system.

“What makes this PSA so special to me is that it was inspired through a collaboration made possible by grants to the Newtown Prevention Council, and is virtually entirely youth produced.”

Mr Tozzi said the message of the PSA will hit home more effectively because it is being reinforced by peers, not parents.

“It’s the responsibility of parents, teachers, police officers, and most adults to communicate a message discouraging alcohol and drug use,” he said. “But when the message hits you right between the eyes and it’s coming straight from your peers, the kids you see in school every day, it matters so much more — and I can tell you that that message is genuine.”

Mr Tozzi said that while each effort is aimed at a different audience, both are working toward a central goal.

“It’s all about the kids,” he said. “And enhancing their quality of life, so they develop a greater respect for life, especially their own.”

According to Robert Spain, who is the director of government relations for the local cable company hosting CommuniTyVision21, his local staff and studio support team were committed to the projects from the start.

“It’s great to see what these folks do, and the tremendous commitment they have to their community and the issues affecting Newtown,” Mr Spain said. “We believe in doing local informational programming whether it’s televising local meetings, parades, or projects like this.”

Positive Choices was produced by Mark Ingram, who is an employee of CommuniTyVision21. Mr Ingram and Community Access Supervisor Gregory Van Antwerp told The Bee that the public access station is currently seeking both community groups looking to produce similar programming, as well as individuals looking to serve as station interns working behind the scenes on local productions.

On August 18, the station is also hosting a free workshop for local individuals who want to learn some professional tricks to take better advantage of their own home video equipment and camcorders. For more information contact the station at 304-4050 or visit the station’s website at www.communityvision21.com.