Award-Winning Prevention with Drug Free Cecil Youth Coalition

This is the 16th installment in a series of profiles featuring both DEA personnel, as well as statewide drug misuse prevention groups. Learn about the tough but fulfilling, fascinating, and vital work these individuals and organizations do, as well as the many different ways to get involved in fighting drug misuse. For our 16th profile, we will be interviewing Drug Free Cecil Youth Coalition, based in Maryland.

What motivated you to join the Drug Free Cecil Youth Coalition?

The biggest thing that motivated me to join the Drug Free Cecil Youth Coalition is the sense of community that the coalition had. Seeing how everybody worked so well together, and had a real connection even though everyone has come from different backgrounds showed me that I could belong there. I also saw the incredible work many members had done before I joined, creating real change in my community. I also saw that I was able to join the coalition and help contribute to the mission that fellow youth in Cecil County had created. That was a big inspiration and ultimately the deciding factor of why I joined Drug Free Cecil.
—Anthony, 12th grade student

What does an average day with the Drug Free Cecil Youth Coalition look like?

An average day with Drug Free Cecil Youth Coalition (DFCYC) always centers around our mission, which is to reduce substance use through youth-led efforts in prevention, advocacy, engagement, and education. We hold monthly meetings to prepare for bigger events and to develop our knowledge and leadership skills. Our biggest event, Youth Leadership Summit, occurs in November each year, is led by @YES Leaders (Youth Empowerment Source Leaders), and invites high school and middle school students to attend a conference-style event where they develop knowledge on the different aspects of this work. Each high school creates a billboard, public service announcement, and poster to convey one unified message. Multiple times throughout the year, Drug Free Cecil runs community events including Trunk or Treat, where DFCYC @YES Student Leaders get to educate the community about the coalition and drug take backs. Student Leaders also have the responsibility of sharing lessons we learned with our high school clubs. Each month, we have lessons, activities, and games to share one part of substance prevention or recovery education. All of this comes together with everyone in the coalition envisioning a safe and healthy Cecil County where youth thrive and are empowered to be drug free.
—Arianna, 10th grade student

What has been your proudest moment as an organization?

The Drug Free Cecil Youth Coalition was founded in 2018 with only two students. Now, we have over 50 student leaders who, through community outreach, events, and prevention clubs, have impacted over 5,000 youth in Cecil County with prevention messaging. To think that only eight years ago, we were struggling to spread prevention messaging in this county and now, almost anywhere you go, you see someone wearing some Drug Free Cecil swag, someone that went to an event, or someone that is involved in a prevention club. We were honored to receive the Dose of Prevention Award at the 2026 CADCA Forum for the second time. Prevention is working in Cecil County because of our student leaders who are choosing to make a change.
—Mason, Drug Free Cecil Youth Advisor

What is your advice for other youth who wish to get involved in drug use prevention and even start a similar group of their own?

My advice would be to just do it. You have to jump into it and be active and try to make an impact. You also need to keep showing up and be consistent so that people know that you are serious about this cause. Drug Free Cecil started out extremely small and now we have more than 50 student leaders and have impacted thousands of students. The more people who get involved, the more that this generation will continue to fight for what they believe in and I think that is extremely rare now. Even in my time as an @YES Student Leader, I have seen this club grow in numbers and that is thanks to the people who were brave enough to jump in.
—Erin, 12th grade student

The synthetic opioid fentanyl – often mixed into other drugs – is now responsible for tens of thousands of American deaths per year. How has the fentanyl epidemic impacted your work?

As a 12th grade student and @YES Leader for Drug Free Cecil, I have seen how the fentanyl epidemic is impacting my community, especially because many young people are unaware that fentanyl can be mixed into pills or substances that look harmless. Families are grieving, classmates are losing friends, and these are real lives, not just statistics. It breaks my heart knowing lives have been lost, but it also motivates me to continue the work I'm doing to educate and protect others. From a student's perspective, this is more than a drug issue; it's a youth safety crisis that requires stronger awareness and prevention. If we can help even one student understand the risks and make a safer choice, then this work truly matters.
—Nadirah, 12th grade student

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