Shop 5% Friday on August 29th to Support MV Hope Coalition
The mission of MV Hope Coalition is to build an alliance that inspires hope, engages the community, and develops and implements strategies to prevent and reduce opioid and other substance use in Mount Vernon youth. MV HOPE (Mount Vernon: Healthy Outcomes through Prevention Efforts) Coalition is a community collaboration working to implement opioid and other drug prevention through a community-based approach. The Coalition funds direct service programs and environmental strategies that have been proven to reduce substance use in youth.
As part of its mission to help raise awareness and prevention of opioids and other substances in Skagit youth, MV Hope actively facilitates a Mount Vernon School District program called Peer 2 Peer (P2P). This program aims to decrease student use of substances. The P2P students attend training through NWESD and participate in regular club meetings with community members and staff advisors, where they learn safe and effective intervention techniques geared toward promoting healthier choices. The goal of the P2P program is to help create bridges for the schools in Mount Vernon by using a trickle-down presentation method where high school students present to middle school students and middle school students to 5th graders. During these presentations, students take the opportunity to communicate information they’ve learned on substance abuse, social media, and other pertinent issues to the youth. This program is currently successfully running at LaVenture Middle School, and in the 2024/2025 school year, Peer 2 Peer is scheduled to expand to Mount Baker Middle School and Mount Vernon High School.
MV Hope is currently partnering with Children of the Valley, an after-school program for under resourced students in the Mount Vernon School District, to offer a Positive Action curriculum. The program emphasizes actions that promote a healthy and positive cycle. Additionally, MV Hope supports the PAX Good Behavior Game (PAX GBG), a school-based classroom intervention used by teachers to teach self-regulation. PAX GBG is not a set of lessons or curriculum but strategies teachers use throughout their day to build students' behavioral skills and stamina for focused attention and self-regulation.
How Will Your Shopping Trip Support MV Hope Coalition
MV Hope also holds workshops to educate under-resourced Spanish-speaking families and community members on advocating for their students and strengthening community bonds. When holding these workshops and meetings, MV Hope strives to extend the opportunity for food nourishment to its volunteers and community members who attend. Offering meals and snacks serves as an additional incentive to attend and removes the barrier of sourcing these basic needs before or after the gatherings. 5% Friday funds will be used to support the groups with meals, snacks, and nourishment as they meet.