We are excited to welcome special guest speaker and former ANDVSA Prevention Team member Claudia Plesa to our February Statewide Prevention Call! With years of experience guiding LeadOn (among other amazing efforts) at ANDVSA and in her current role as a Community Engagement Senior Manager at the Association of Alaska School Boards (AASB), Claudia brings a unique perspective on violence prevention in Alaska. She is passionate about working closely with schools and families so that students experience the support they need to thrive.
Drawing on foundational concepts from AASB’s Family Partnership Framework, this call will explore how important it is to embrace families as partners in violence prevention and to build authentic relationships that are rooted in trust, shared power, and two-way communication.
Through presented content, facilitated discussion, and breakout room activities, Claudia will share lessons she’s learned and help us consider the following questions:
- Why is including families and caregivers in youth-focused violence prevention important?
- What are the goals of our family and caregiver engagement?
- What barriers exist to successfully and meaningfully engaging families and caregivers?
- How do we meet families and caregivers where they are at (literally and figuratively) to successfully and meaningfully engage them as partners in prevention?
- How do we begin to understand what families and caregivers value, prioritize, and need when it comes to supporting their children and teens in developing healthy relationships?
- What are the key prevention messages we want to share with families and caregivers and how can we best refine and deliver these messages?
Your prevention coalition members and community partners are welcome to participate in this call! If you have any questions, please contact Esther (Esse) Smith at esmith@andvsa.org or (907) 903-9774.
Claudia Plesa is a graduate Eastern Oregon University with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology, with a minor in Gender Studies. She also has her Master of Science Degree in Sociology from Portland State University. After receiving her Master’s, she spent a year teaching undergraduate level sociology classes at Eastern Oregon University. Although she enjoyed teaching, Claudia wanted to work in a field where she could feel that she was making a real difference. This brought her to Alaska, where she spent over 5 years working to engage youth and communities in violence prevention programming. She is enjoying working with communities and school districts to engage youth in leadership and advocacy work.