Youth prevention group asks Encinitas Youth Commission to support smoke-free multiunit housing

Barbara Gordon, program director for the Changers, a youth prevention program affiliated with the San Diego Alliance for Drug-Free Communities, told the Encinitas Youth Commission on Jan. 8 that the students want the commissionto support a smoke-free policy for multiunit housing when it reaches the council or relevant commission. "The Changers are encouraged to improve their neighborhood, participate in civic [processes] through speaking out on important issues," Gordon said, and she said the group would like the Youth Commission's endorsement when the environmental commission's smoke-free multiunit-housing item comes forward.

Gordon described the Changers as mostly Hispanic students who attend one of four local high schools and who meet monthly to address underage drinking, tobacco, vaping, marijuana and other drug use. She said the group's goals include educating peers, civic leaders and the community about those risks and promoting neighborhood improvements through advocacy. "These teens recognize the high risk behavior that accompanies drinking and drug use," Gordon said.

The comment came during the meeting's public-comment period; no formal action or vote on the policy was taken by the Youth Commission at the Jan. 8 meeting. The transcript indicates environmental commission staff have placed a smoke-free multiunit housing item on that commission's work plan for the next two years, and Gordon urged the youth commissioners to consider supporting that policy when it is considered by the relevant body.

No city staff or commissioner announced a formal plan to take an endorsement to the City Council during the Jan. 8 meeting. The Youth Commission's role in such policies was discussed only as a prospective endorsement request from the Changers, not as an adopted position or directive from the commission.