Santa Maria Community Services Presents a Picnic for Prevention on August 6, 2021

Santa Maria Community Services, Inc. is pleased to announce that it is hosting a Substance Abuse Prevention Picnic in partnership with PreventionFIRST! Join us for a fun picnic with a purpose. Santa Maria’s picnic will be held on Friday, August 6, 2021, from 12 noon until 2:30 p.m. in Price Hill at Santa Maria Community Services, 3301 Warsaw Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45205.

This free picnic will include food, music, Kona Ice, prizes and more. Participants will also learn about substance abuse prevention. The event will also include food distribution for families.

This picnic for prevention will educate the whole family about substance abuse prevention in a fun atmosphere. In addition, Santa Maria’s Promoting Our Preschoolers program will be celebrating their graduation at this event.

Promoting Our Preschoolers is a family-focused kindergarten-readiness program that works collaboratively with families, schools, and the community through home visitation. Through home visits participants receive: developmental screens, parent support and education, advocacy and referrals for Price Hill’s children and their families. Children receive educational supplies and participate in home or group-based learning opportunities to increase the child’s success in school and life. The parents are also engaged and introduced to the wealth of other programs available at Santa Maria so that we are working on goals for the whole family. Promoting Our Preschoolers works jointly with families to help get their children ready for kindergarten by building reading, language and social skills, and seeks to create a seamless transition into school for preschool-age children while ensuring that barriers to school readiness are removed. Please wish our graduates well as they head off to school this fall!

“The purpose of this picnic is to bring the community together and have fun while educating the public about substance abuse prevention. We are thankful to our partner, PreventionFIRST!, for making this event possible,” said H.A. Musser, Jr., President and CEO of Santa Maria Community Services. “We also want to celebrate our Promoting Our Preschoolers graduates. They have worked hard for the last few years, and we want to be sure to give them a big send off as they head to kindergarten in a few short weeks.”

“PreventionFIRST!’s ongoing collaboration with Santa Maria Community Services has laid a strong foundation for generations of families in the area to carry out prevention in their own homes and neighborhoods. We are grateful for the grant funding from the City of Cincinnati to carry out this summer event to connect with the Hispanic/Latino community. This is a time for communities to come together to learn how to prevent substance abuse and improve mental wellness across the lifespan.” said Amanda Conn Starner, PreventionFIRST! Senior Director.