“Educating youth today, helps to equip them for tomorrow’s challenges.”
Dawn LaPlante is a long time member of Empower Johnson County and the current Project Coordinator for Upstream Prevention’s School-Based Implementation Grant. Dawn has completed her Child & Youth Care Professional Certification (CYC-P) and holds a BS in Elementary Education.
Dawn has over 25 years of service to youth and children. She previously worked with the Safe Place program, focused on the prevention of youth runaways and homelessness. Dawn is also a certified trainer in the prevention of human trafficking.
Dawn enjoys educating youth of all ages and is happy to partner with our Johnson County school systems. She believes highly in Empower’s mission statement and believes that educating youth today, equips them for tomorrow’s challenges. We sat down with Dawn to see how her work with Empower helps shape her prevention work with local students and community members.
How long have you been involved with Empower?
How would you describe Empower’s work in our community?
Why is Empower’s Mission important and how does it align with your work at Upstream Prevention?
Tell us more about Sources of Strength…
What do you love about Empower?
What would you like to see Empower do in the future?
Tell us more about your organization…
More About Upstream Prevention, Inc.
At Upstream Prevention, we dig down to address underlying causes that
impact us all. Our goal is to move upstream to help build resilience, decrease
risk factors, build strengths and protective factors which we know will have
impacts on our individual and public health downstream.
We think our approach is best because it allows us to address root factors that
have multiple downstream impacts. And the work we do benefits everyone. We can all use more support and protection in our lives. We can all benefit by understanding how we can be that supportive friend, and help build resilience in ourselves and those around us- moving upstream means making the whole community a safer and healthier place for us all to live.
The following are strategies that Dawn supports through her role at Upstream Prevention:
Sources of Strength this program is active in Clark Pleasant Schools and coming soon to Franklin Schools. It is an Evidence Based Program to help prevent suicide, bullying and youth substance use in the schools.
Baby & Me Tobacco Free Program is for expectant moms wanting to quit smoking.
Al’s Pals is a Social Emotional Learning curriculum for 3-5 year olds. Upstream has a partnership with JCPL to implement this unique program.
LifeSkills Curriculum is a curriculum for grades 3-12th relating to making positive choices in life.Â
To learn more about Upstream Prevention visit out their website and Facebook page.