In Fiscal Year 2020, the DEAEF Youth Dance Program (YDP) was selected as a community partner to help roll out youth engagement programs for DEA Operation Engage, a national initiative piloted in eleven metropolitan areas by the DEA.
DEA Operation Engage is ‘a comprehensive approach that will target the top drug threat identified by the local DEA division while continuing to focus on drug trafficking, violence, and crime reduction. Each division will designate a city or region and will customize their drug use prevention and community outreach efforts by identifying the drugs that affect individuals and families in the designated areas and identify evidence-informed strategies that best fit community needs’.
“I wanted to take a moment to tell you how valuable the DEA Educational Foundation has been to DEA Detroit. I truly believe that to teach kids drug prevention, we need to meet them on their level and not preach to them, but work with them, listen to them and, most importantly, have fun with them. The DEA Educational Foundation Baseball program instills [important] lessons in youth, all while teaching the students that there are alternative activities to doing drugs.”
The DEA Educational Foundation completed Year I and II, is wrapping up Year III and has begun programs for Year IV. Types of youth engagement programs include art, baseball, basketball, cooking, dance, health and wellness day, kickball, leadership academies, martial arts, PSA competition, soccer, and more.
The DEA Educational Foundation has been in a 7-year partnership with Verde Environmental Technologies, Inc., creator of the Deterra® Drug Deactivation and Disposal System, joining together to fight drug misuse nationwide. The DEAEF is proud to endorse Deterra® for the safe disposal of prescription and over-the-counter medications.
“With the simple act of proper drug disposal, everyone is empowered to help save lives and protect the environment.”
“We believe safe and effective products like those offered by Deterra are a key part of substance use and misuse prevention efforts,” says William Alden, DEAEF Chairman. “Deterra is a cost-effective, science-backed solution that is trusted nationwide for the proper disposal of unused drugs as soon as they are no longer needed.”
We are excited to partner with Addiction Policy Forum on Protect Your Brain, an education campaign for middle and high school students. Narrated by a high school student, with input from a focus group of teenagers and educators, the campaign reinforces the importance of “protecting your brain” and presents key strategies for adolescents, such as delaying first use, finding positive coping skills and taking extra precaution if substance use runs in your family.
The DEA Educational Foundation is excited to announce a FREE online course, Fentanyl Facts and Overdose Risk, developed in partnership with Addiction Policy Forum for the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (#JCOIN) at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). This course will discuss facts about fentanyl in the U.S., increasing overdose risk, and resources for communities.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and the DEAEF partnered in 2021 and at the end of 2024, we have conducted over 36 online trainings including seven Parent/Caregiver, nine Mentor, nine Youth, and 11 Staff. In addition, we helped develop a guidebook for Parents/Caregivers and Mentors and created an innovative microtraining course for Mentors which are bite-sized training modules combine mixed media elements, including short videos, interactive quizzes, PDFs, and recorded discussions, to engage participants while covering a wide range of topics.
Through this partnership, we worked with very special, influential organizations/individuals such as The Kids Mental Health Foundation, Victoria’s Voice Foundation, Didi Hirsch's 24-Hour Suicide Prevention Center, Cori Cross, MD, Dolly Klock, MD, Dr. Zelana Montminy, and much more!
In the 2025-2026 season, we are exploring more unique and engaging topics and plan to add 11 trainings including two Parent/Caregiver, two Mentor, three Youth, and four Staff. We are forever grateful for this collaboration with BBBS, DEA, and all our partners on these endeavors and look forward to continued and new partnerships in the coming year.
The Milken Institute Center for Public Health partnered with Leidos to create an Action Group of over 70 employers from across industries and sectors, committed to taking actionable steps to improve mental health and address the addiction crisis by examining internal programs, cultures, and internal policies. The efforts were aimed at racial equity, stigma, raising awareness about the science of addiction, recovery ready workplaces, and creating psychologically safe environments. DEAEF members participated in the Milken Institute—Leidos Collaborative Action Group Meetings held during March, September and November of 2022. The goal of the group was for organizations to work together to maintain a healthy workforce and to meet the many challenges of identifying issues relating to mental health, drug misuse and addiction in the workforce. Experts in the field of Addiction, Recovery, Access to Care and Workplace Distress, Veterans Assistance, were among the many fields of discussion. DEAEF Board Members Jason Sundby, CEO and Chairman of the Board, Verde Technologies, and Jessica Hulsey, Founder & CEO, Addiction Policy Forum, and Jarod Forget, SAC, DEA Washington Field Division also briefed the audience.
