Ledyard Prevention Coalition

Our Mission: to foster a healthy, safe and drug free environment for Ledyard through community partnerships. We hope to achieve our mission by providing education, increasing enforcement, and implementing policy changes around alcohol, marijuana, and prescription drugs.

Our Goals

  • Strengthen the Ledyard Prevention Coalition by increasing community collaborations and the involvement of community organizations, community groups, and individuals in coalition initiatives and activities.
  • Reduce the use of alcohol, marijuana, and prescription drug abuse among adolescents through education, enforcement and other environmental strategies that will increase youth’s developmental assets.

The Ledyard Prevention Coalition is made up of local youth, parents, teachers, police, civic organizations, healthcare professionals, government, tribal, faith, media representatives, youth-serving organizations, businesses, and other volunteers of the Ledyard community.

  • Ledge Light Health District
  • Ledyard Lions
  • Ledyard Parents and Youth
  • Ledyard Parks and Recreation
  • Ledyard Public Libraries
  • Ledyard Public Schools
  • Ledyard Police
  • Ledyard Youth and Family Services
  • Governor’s Prevention Partnership
  • Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation
  • Southeastern Connecticut Regional Action Council
  • St. Luke’s Church
  • CVS, WBMW, and other local businesses

The Ledyard Prevention Coalition meets on the third Tuesday of every month from 12 to 1 pm. Please contact Kerensa Mansfield at 860-448-4882 ext. 1309 or [email protected] for more information.

2020-21 Program Accomplishments

The Ledyard Prevention Coalition (LPC) achieved many successful accomplishments toward our goals of increasing community collaboration and reducing youth substance use in Ledyard over the past year. Listed are a few highlights of 2020-21:

1) Increase Community Collaboration:

  • Provided training for coalition members on Strategic Prevention Framework, environmental strategies, and the key essentials for creating community change
  • Provided a parent forum presented by a teenager, “How to Communicate with Your Teen Using Social Media”
  • Recruited seven youth to participate in the Adolescent Learning and Leadership Institute (ALLI)
  • Hosted National Prevention Week Events at the middle and high schools and in the community

2) Reduce Youth Substance Use:

  • Provided a marijuana policy forum “The Perils of Legalizing Marijuana”
  • Implemented the “Take it to the Box Campaign” with CVS and local physician’s offices.  The Ledyard Police Department collected over 580 pounds of unused prescription drugs
  • Re-established the Juvenile Review Board
  • Conducted compliance check for package stores

Tips for Keeping Your Teen’s Party Alcohol-Free

  • Work with your teen on a guest list ahead of time and set a limit on the number of attendees.
  • Ask teens to leave purses or backpacks in locked cars or at the front door. Discourage teens from going back and forth from your home to their cars.
  • Lock up any alcohol in your home
  • Provide plenty to keep them entertained. Use TV, swimming pool, video games, karaoke machines, etc.
  • Provide plenty of space for them to hang out comfortably where you can see them but not hover over them.
  • Do not use a punch bowl or pitchers.
  • Monitor behavior by circulating your home and interacting with teens.
  • Never let a teen you believe to be impaired drive home.

For more information, visit bethewall.org.

This web page was developed [in part] under grant number 1H79SP020988-01 from the Office of National Drug Control Policy and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The views, policies, and opinion expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of ONDCP, SAMSHSA or HHS.