About Healthy Lifestyles
In 2014, Denver became the first U.S. city to address the need for a more modern approach to cannabis awareness and education through the design and implementation of Healthy Lifestyles, a 10-hour curriculum used by afterschool providers to lead middle school youth through a series of hands-on activities that provides balanced information and lets them explore how Cannabis can impact their lives. In response to the needs of the community and recent trends, curriculum on Vaping and Opioids have been added to the suite of Healthy Lifestyles opportunities.
Meeting the Needs of the
Afterschool Community
After hearing directly from youth service providers and youth themselves that there were few resources with credible, relatable information, the DAA partnered with the YESS Institute to develop the Health Lifestyles curriculum, focused on cannabis. This program has been implemented by afterschool providers across the city and was made possible through a $1.5 million grant allocation that the DAA’s lead agency, the City and County of Denver’s Office of Children’s Affairs. In response to community feedback and trends across the city, the DAA worked with YESS to create additional modules for education on vaping and opioids.
Scaling the Program & Sharing Lessons Learned with Our Peers
The DAA is in the process of making the Healthy Lifestyles curriculum available to other Colorado communities, and, as more states legalize marijuana, the DAA is sharing its lessons learned with afterschool intermediaries and advocates looking to use their collective voice to secure funding for youth programming through marijuana tax revenue.
