For its role in participating in the 2020 Virtual Drug Take Back Week, the Youth Empowerment Society (Y.E.S.) of the Hamilton County Coalition is recognizing Tennessee American Water as an outstanding community partner.

We would like to present an award — and most importantly — say thank you to Tennessee American Water for helping create social media campaigns, releasing public service announcements and speaking with local news stations to promote this important event. They also released an environmental awareness piece to their social media platforms about the importance of keeping the environment clean by not flushing medications to dispose of them. Doing so can cause water supplies to become unsanitary.

Through their help of promoting the Virtual Drug Take Back Week, residents across Chattanooga communities were made more aware of the importance of keeping the environment safe and clean.

Also, with TN American Water being responsible for the filtration process of our water and the distribution of it to communities, they showed Y.E.S. members how their system works in terms of water filtration and pipe management, all while talking about career opportunities with them.  

“Tennessee American Water taught us how important it is to have clean water since it is one of our main sources of drinking,” Aaron Crowder, an 11^th grader of McCallie School in Chattanooga, TN and member of the Y.E.S. stated. “Without them, we would not have clean water and they should be recognized for all that they do.”

The Y.E.S. Program utilizes the expertise of the Coalition’s membership to train and mentor youth participants. The young people, in turn, mentor at-risk elementary and middle school-aged youth across Chattanooga about the dangers associated with illicit drug use and violence while also assisting the Coalition with health fairs, community prescription drug take-backs, town hall meeting and social media campaigns. ­­­
 
Over 70 Y.E.S. ambassadors have graduated from the program. Among other impactful accomplishments like mentoring over 750 at-risk youth, Y.E.S. ambassadors convinced the Hamilton County School Board to revise the tobacco policy to make every school in Hamilton County a 100% tobacco-free campus.