Wayland Parent Coffees

A new and exciting program offered to Wayland Middle School and High School parents. Parent coffees provide a successful outreach strategy to inform and engage parents of pre-teens and teens on the topic of preventing and reducing alcohol and drug use.

Program Goals

• Reduce/prevent youth alcohol and drug use by encouraging parents to increase effective communication with their teens and monitor their activities.
• Share new information and research on youth substance use and effective prevention strategies.
• Understand trends in use, predictors, risk and protective factors –the goal being to delay age of onset and experimentation.
• Connect parents with each other to encourage a safe community.
• Learn the “Three Primary Factors” regarding a youth’s decision to use illicit substances.

This program is offered at no cost and is a fun, informative way to share information. Coffees have been held in the evenings from 7–9 in a home setting, but can be arranged at any time and place. We can help you identify and recruit other parents to participate. Dossie Kahn of Wayland Youth and Family Services is available to serve as facilitator.

Past participants have said:

“I thought I was a well-informed parent, but I learned so much at the coffee.” – Parent of a WHS student

“I really appreciated this opportunity to gather with other parents, learn more about the issue, and share experiences, ideas, and suggestions for working together to keep our children safe.” – Parent of a WHS student

“Teaching our children from a young age is necessary and valuable. This was a great forum for learning with other parents.” – Parent of a WMS student

To schedule a coffee, contact the Coalition here »

Take Action

During the  school year, WaylandCares has a variety of programs for which community support is needed.  Please consider sharing your time and talents.

Communications Committee:

• Design and print a brochure about the Coalition with resources available to families
• Develop message and materials for social norms marketing campaign
• Write or provide material for newsletter which is published three times per year
• Website support: review and edit sections of new site

Assessment/Evaluation Committee:

• Work with professional researcher to evaluate effectiveness of various programs
• Help design parent survey tool to be administered in 2010/2011 school year

Membership Committee:

Would you like to help get more parents, youth and community members involved with WaylandCares?  Do you have contacts with the following or are you willing to serve as a liaison with:

• Elementary school  parents, elementary PTOs
• Middle School parents, Middle School PTO
• Youth
• High School parents, WHSPO, Boosters, CAPA
• Wayland Clergy
• Wayland Business Association and Wayland businesses
• Other (please specify)

Program Committee:

• Host a Parent Coffee
• Plan educational events for parents and community
• Plan programming for MS and HS students

To stay informed about WaylandCares’ activities and events, sign up for our emails.

To volunteer, please email Wayland_Cares@wayland.k12.ma.us