The Newtown Prevention Council closed out its final meeting of the season, on May 21, with a presentation by resident Catherine Larson, owner of Tech Training CT.

Also during the meeting, Newtown Prevention Council Grant Coordinator Kim Killoy briefly discussed the council’s plans to use up its Drug-Free Communities Support Program grant through the federal Department of Health and Human Services funding, which she said the council has available until the end of September.

Council Co-Chair Judy Blanchard also highlighted some efforts the council will be focusing on when it starts meeting again in September.

According to Ms Blanchard, the 2015 Youth Survey Report was administered to students just prior to the school district’s April vacation. The survey asks Newtown youth about the prevalence, attitudes, and behaviors related to use of substances such as tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs. The results from the survey should be available by September to analyze, Ms Blanchard said.

“This is going to be, I think, a very interesting year,” said Ms Blanchard about the survey results, noting declines in use of drugs and alcohol in the past until a plateau was noted in the last survey.

Ms Blanchard then introduced Ms Larson, who was there to further the council’s efforts in focusing on communication.

According to Ms Killoy, Ms Larson gave a presentation that reviewed several social media platforms with the group, like Twitter and Facebook, discussed using MailChimp services for newsletters, and shared information about other types of communication, like how to create a QR code and information to be used for event flyers.