Evolving Branding: Transitioning from the Party Talk Podcast to the Drug Prevention Power Hour

Happy Monday and welcome back to one of the final episodes of the Party Talk Podcast. And you know what that was dramatic because we’re not going anywhere. I’m just going to rebrand our show. And I’ll share with you the reason why. But today’s episode is going to be really fun. Number one, I’m going to share some changes that we’re making to the show, one being the branding. The other thing is how you can get $100,000 a year to your prevention efforts in your community, and then go through some final, final tips on engaging youth, and specifically how you can actually work with us and bring your students to our conference if you would like to. So I’ll share a little bit about that, and what’s happening this year. So without any further ado, let’s let’s jump right in, why the change? Why are we are swapping things up. And I want to combine this discussion with some branding tips for you and your coalition. Because here’s what I’m learning as I go throughout my journey of creating our movement and leading it is, oftentimes we want to do something that sounds really cute, or we name something based on a personal reason. And I’ve seen this done a lot actually in business. And the thought behind it is really cool. Because you have a personal story, or you have a personal interest. And people are like, “Hey, why does your logo look like that? Or why does your name include this, and you share a personal story that can be powerful for you.” But unless your personal story has that kind of transformation on someone else. And if you actually have the time to share it, then it’s actually not going to be effective. And what I realized with this podcast is that’s what I did. I named this the Party Talk Podcast, because when I started in this, this whole field of drug prevention, I was throwing drug free parties. And it was kind of this like, you know, fun, high energy thing that I was doing, that set me apart from other people, which I think is good, you want to be unique. You want to be fun and high energy. But it doesn’t actually explain the value that we provide people. And we don’t talk about parties. So if anything as a name, it’s very misleading. That’s why it’s important for me to say, at the beginning of each episode, welcome to the party talk podcast, where we empower leaders in youth drug prevention. So my name should really be about empowering leaders and youth drug prevention. And so that is why I’m looking at changing our name to the Drug Prevention Power Hour, where we give you techniques and strategies and drug prevention in less than 60 minutes. So still on brand, still doing what we’re doing. I just took something that I’ve learned about branding, and I want to  it right away. You know why waste time, if you’re a subscriber or someone who listens, nothing’s going to change, just the beginning, five seconds is going to change, and probably new cover arts and the title. But if you are subscribed, it’s not going to cancel yours, you don’t have to resubscribe. It will just change it on the back end. I believe. I hope that it doesn’t change all that other stuff. But that’s the big thing. And so for for you. And anybody listening, that’s part of a drug prevention club, a coalition, something like that. Oftentimes, when we get challenged to name something, is we think I yeah, what’s, what’s cute, what’s clever. What’s more important is what’s clear. Clear is way more important than cute or clever. And that’s what I’m learning. And so when you look at your branding for coalition’s that have their name of their city as part of their name, I think that’s a really good thing, the name of their city, county, something like that. And then part of their mission, what they’re designed to do, and the change they’re bringing about. Those are really good names. But the ones that are very obscure, and you don’t know what it’s about, it’s not going to capture keywords when people are searching for you. But maybe it’s really cute, like those are the ones that I’d stay away from the logo. Again, the logos aren’t everything. But if the logo can somehow incorporate what you do, or your letters, then that’s fantastic. But if you love bumblebees, and you’re like I’m gonna make mine a bumblebee or a honeycomb that’s gonna be really misleading and Yeah, that’s that. We chatted about it.

$125,000 Funding Opportunity & Budget Tips for Prevention Efforts

Now, I want to make a quick announcement because I got an email from a friend at the CDC. Her name is Elisa, shout out Elisa. And she wanted me to make sure that everyone knew that the new grant cycle for 10 years of da, DFC drug free communities grant funding is open again. So number one, if you are part of an organization that does drug prevention, and you’re listening to this, and you don’t currently have or know about the DFC, drug free Communities Program, this is something to look out for because you could win $125,000 or be awarded right as a grant for up to 10 years. So you do the first five years and then after you’re done, you apply for your six through 10. So I’m just going to read from her email right here. The drug free communities Support Program released a new streamline Notice of Funding Opportunity for fiscal year 2024 That provides community coalition’s with grant funding and an extensive national support system to mobilize local youth substance use prevention efforts. recipients receive $125,000 a year for up to 10 years programmatic and grant grants management support and technical assistance for coalition development program implementation and data collection. So those interested in supply and applying for the drug free communities grant should apply@grants.gov By April 17 2024. If you have any question, please contact CDC’s drug free communities support program at DFCnofo@cdc.gov. Oh, and I can’t tell if it’s a typo or not. It’s, it’s DFC, nof@cdc.gov. Or it’s DFC_nof@cdc.gov. So I’ll try to put these in the show notes as well, if you’re interested in that. And the good news, some of you already have this grant. And so this is not necessarily news to you. But you’re probably working on your budgets being renewed as well. So that actually brings me to our last part is as you’re finalizing your budgets for the year, one of the things that people have really, really found helpful this year from from our work with coalition’s all across the country. And for those of you who don’t know, so we do national nationwide prevention work with organizations who have this grant. And also for schools and organizations that don’t have this grant.

DFC Grant Opportunities, Youth Leadership Conferences, and Branding Insights: Exciting Updates!

The benefits of going to, you know, having the funding on top of that, right, you get all the support, you get to go to conferences, some of the ones that we’ve spoken at, like CADCA media conference, and the CADCA Leadership Forum. And you just get to network with people doing incredible effective programming on drug prevention all across the country. So the ways that we’ve really been able to partner with a lot of coalition’s number one is helping to launch their youth prevention efforts. We know that getting young people involved in drug prevention is not easy. In fact, it is very strategic. And it, it takes a certain type of program, invitation engagement, to really, really do it effectively. And if you’re new in this position, it can feel daunting, that, hey, I basically have 10 jobs rolled into one. And one of these jobs is to be a youth worker, and to really engage young people. And so that can seem daunting. So the couple things I want to mention, as you’re putting together your budgets this year, is last year, we piloted our very first Vive 18 Leadership Conference and had 108 Students and advisors, mostly around Arizona, but even students from Washington and New Mexico, showed up with their advisors and found it extremely valuable. So not only did they get to learn and develop partnerships with each other and with community organizations, but they actually got to practice their public speaking skills, their their abilities to make a pitch to different sponsors and community partners that they can partner up with. So again, it’s it’s helping you with sustainability, and then also how to develop positive engaging social media. content through video. So we had them create videos, we had them practice public speaking. And they got to pitch like a sponsorship package to the entire audience. Some of them won some money to implement the ideas. And then the final thing was putting on an event. So why did the students who came to the event already were engaged in prevention, or this was their beginning of their prevention journey. Either way, they left with leadership skills, they got to practice them. And the advisors, right, the adults who are doing drug prevention work, and have this vested interest, they left with social media content, with fired up student leaders, and with an event plan in place that they can implement when they go home. So that’s one thing if you want to put that into your budget, I’m freezing the ticket cost from last year. So it’s $100 per ticket. And this is going to be a two day conference that we’re having in December of 2024. So stay tuned for those final details. But if you want to put that in your budget, it’s a really affordable conference, and we’re providing food and everything for it. So it’s a, it’s a no brainer, if you’re if you’re able to be here, especially for those people in Arizona and the surrounding states. But even if you are flying, this could be a really, really cool opportunity for you as well to do an impactful program at a lower price point. The other thing to keep in mind as well as we do travel and do leadership trainings for Coalition’s and Drug Prevention Clubs. So if any of those topics sound cool to you, and you can’t make it to our conference, you can also have us come out there. And of course we do the speaking engagements, which we know are not the one stop shop prevention strategy. But it is a way to boost the numbers in your prevention club, because we can get students excited about it, and invite them in. And then to do that training afterwards as well. So that they can develop their leadership skills, you know, do event planning, focus on social media, anything that you want to focus on, if we have the capacity to help you with, you know, we’ll stay and do that. Because as we travel and speak, we want to be making as much impact as possible, especially for flying across the country. It’s like hey, put us to work for the entire day, use us up, we want to pour ourselves out for the benefit of your community and for your students. So all of that, just recap. Brand change, we will no longer be Party Talk. But we will now be the Drug Prevention Power Hour, I think. And this, this might take a few weeks to get it all together. But that’s the direction we’re moving to. Branding tips for you is clear is better than cute. Clear is better than clever. And then the DFC are drug free communities grant is open $125,000 for up to 10 years, each year for up to 10 years. Some of you are doing your budgets for your current DFC. If you’re interested in our conference or anything, training, speaking, go to vi eighteen.com. And, you know, put it in your budgets. I know you can change it afterwards as well. But it’s just a little easier if you just put it in right away. And then finally, I want to start doing this. Because this is just you know, free content we put out every week. If you if you enjoy this podcast, you’ve probably met some cool people through it, you’ve learned some incredible things. And we’re just helping do more together, which I love. I want to keep doing this. And the easiest way to say thank you, if you enjoy this podcast, is to leave us a rating and a review. Because that helps more people see us and more people who see us they can end up using our programs as well. And that’s how we keep the lights on. And we keep traveling and investing into youth that are working in your communities, because that’s sustainable change is investing in your communities. So the review that I want to read to you, I just want to give a quick shout out to young millennial who gave us a great five stars. Oh, this is nice, personal shout out to me. So I said Jake is an amazing host bringing knowledge and creativity to the world of drug prevention. His model and methods makes so much sense when it comes to working with youth and young adults. Listen it Ah, thank you. That’s awesome. That makes my day. So young millennial, I don’t know who you are. But thank you for saying that. I really, really appreciate it and I appreciate you doing that because more people can enjoy our show and we can spread. Spread the good stuff. And the training and and all the great information that’s happening next, next week, you’re going to see an episode from Nicole Ryman, and she’s incredible. She focuses on helping parents and caregivers. Avoid the parenting pendulum, where we you know, we have one experience, and we go all the way to the other side, and basically do the exact opposite of our parents. She talks about the parenting pendulum quite a bit, which is such an interesting phenomenon, and then two how we can understand brain development or childhood brain development and how it affects us later in life. It was really, really cool interview. I just had it a couple of weeks ago, and that’s coming up next Monday. So we will see you next Monday for another episode of the Drug Prevention Power Hour Podcast. This is gonna get some getting used to. It feels weird saying right now but we will see you next Monday. I hope you have a fantastic week.