History

The community of Fuquay-Varina has long been interested in developing strategies to ‘weed and seed’ the town.

In order to reduce drug traffic in town, the citizens of the community formed a task force to assess and plan for interventions. After two years of work as an informal community group, the task force elected a Board of Directors and incorporated in 1999 to form Fuquay-Varina Citizens Against Drugs (FVCAD), Inc.

The Board consists of a diverse group of people representing various segments of the community. Areas represented on the Steering Committee include residents, law enforcement, human service agency, schools, youth programs, faith community and the business community. In 2001 the FVCAD, Inc. applied for and received Official Recognition as a Department of Justice, Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO) Weed & Seed Site. FVCAD received 5 full years of Weed & Seed Grant Funding. To summarize the initiative, FVCAD implemented the strategies to weed out the criminal element and seed in the services to make Fuquay-Varina a safer place to live, play, work, and go to school in. The Grant Funds were spent 50% to the Town of Fuquay-Varina Police Department for weeding efforts and the balance was managed by FVCAD to support seeding activities.

Current Efforts

In 2019, the FVCAD leadership team met with several community partners to reenergize
the coalition to align with the growing needs of the Fuquay-Varina Community.  FVCAD changed their name to the Fuquay-Varina Safe and Healthy Community, updated their mission and vision statements, and partnered with the Poe Center of Health Education.  In January 2020, the FV Coalition hired a full time Coalition Coordinator, conducted a detailed community needs assessment and began development of a community-wide strategic plan.

Today the mission of the Fuquay-Varina Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Community is to reduce youth alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use in Fuquay-Varina through community and youth empowerment, education, outreach, and strategic policy.

 

The FV Coalition has prioritized two community areas of focus

  • Reduce e-cigarette use by high school students from 17% in 2017 to 12% by 2025 as reported by the NC Youth Tobacco Survey.
  • Reduce past 30-day alcohol use by high school students from 26.5% in 2017 to 22% by 2025 as reported on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

The FV Coalition

  • is funded by the Drug Free Communities and is a part of larger network of coalitions across the country.
  • collaborates with community partners to reduce youth substance use and empowers local teens to make a difference in the community.
  • meets every 3rd Thursday of the month at 3:30pm via zoom. Join us.