CADCA Forum

Register Now for CADCA’s National Leadership Forum!

Is your coalition looking for a solution to fight underage drinking or prescription drug abuse, or for new ways to strengthen your coalition efforts? Whatever your community’s challenge is, you are sure to find a solution at CADCA’s 18th Annual National Leadership Forum, held Feb. 11-14, 2008 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. CADCA’s Forum is the nation’s largest training event for community coalition leaders and substance abuse professionals, featuring more than 100 workshops on key drug prevention, treatment and issues.
This year’s Forum will feature a keynote presentation by Dr. Drew Pinsky, a board-certified addiction medicine specialist and popular national radio and television host, whose experience with addicts and teens spans more than 20 years. The Forum will kick off with CSAP’s Community Prevention Day on Monday, Feb. 11, 2008, which will focus on leadership and its impact on the vulnerable populations & communities that we serve.

Register now using CADCA’s online registration system. This year, we've streamline the registration process to make it faster and easier than last year. When prompted, enter your user ID, noted above. Remember to register before Friday, January 4, 2008 to receive the early-bird discount.





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Make Your Capitol Hill Day Appointments TODAY
Last year during CADCA´s National Leadership Forum, more than 1,000 coalition leaders and Forum attendees from around the country headed to Capitol Hill to educate their legislators about the effectiveness of substance abuse prevention, education and treatment. Now it´s time for coalitions to gear up for CADCA´s 2008 Capitol Hill Day, held during CADCA´s 18th Annual National Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C., by scheduling appointments with their U.S. senators and representatives. CADCA has allotted time between 1-5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008 for appointments.

Appointments should not be made before 1:00 pm, since CADCA expects members of Congress to attend the morning plenary session. It’s also important to try to make appointments on the House side earlier in the day, as the Capitol Hill reception will be held in the evening on the Senate side.

Information on how to set up appointments is located in CADCA’s Capitol Hill Handbook.

For those with five or more people attending a meeting, CADCA can help. Simply complete the CAPITOL HILL MEETINGS FORM and e-mail it to David Kurosky at dkurosky@cadca.org, or via fax at 703-706-0565.

To locate a phone number of a senator or representative, call the Capitol Switchboard at 202- 225-3121 to be connected to the appropriate office. This information can also be found in Appendix A of the Capitol Hill Day Handbook.

For questions or concerns, contact David Kurosky at 703-706-0560 ext. 255 or Kelly Lieupo at klieupo@cadca.org or 703-706-0560 ext. 241.


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Using Social Media Tools to Enhance Coalition Efforts
You hear about people watching podcasts on their iPods and about teens posting messages on their blogs or using Facebook to communicate with their friends, but did you know that these social media tools can also be used to enhance your coalition work? Learn how at CADCA´s National Leadership Forum XVIII, held Feb. 11-14, 2007 in Washington, D.C.

During “Adding Social Media to Your Coalition's Marketing Arsenal” workshop, part of the Forum’s new Science & Technology Series, participants will learn about the growing number of social media tools available, such as blogs, podcasts and RSS Readers, and how to incorporate them into their communications and marketing plans. Another workshop, entitled “Social Networking: Can You Digg It?” will teach participants about the many social networking tools available to help coalition leaders stay knowledgeable and influential, such as Facebook, Wikispaces, Digg and Flickr.

Social media tools, such as blogs or podcasts, are an inexpensive way to enhance a coalition’s marketing and membership or volunteer recruitment efforts.

For example, as a way to attract more members or volunteers, coalitions can podcast recordings or video clips on their websites of current members talking about why they participate in coalition activities. They can also be used as way to involve youth in coalition efforts, by having youth create their own podcasts. Coalitions may also find blogs useful. Blogs, which are websites where people can post entries of text, can allow coalitions to reach a greater number of people with their messages. For example, the coalition director can have his or her own blog, with her own articles or opinions on a subject. The coalition could create a blog and put youth in charge of writing content for it.

Click here to learn more about these and other workshops at CADCA’s National Leadership Forum XVIII