​On Thursday, June 14th, Borough President Oddo joined with members of the NYPD, District Attorney Mike McMahon, and the DOE to congratulate the 5th and 7th grade students who participated in the "Too Good For Drugs" program at PS 21 and St. Adalbert's School.

The “Too Good For Drugs” curriculum is co-taught in the classroom by a police officer and a teacher. The program, which is in its fourth year, takes place in 5th, 7th and 9th grade classes in public and parochial schools across the borough.
 
"The amazing officers have taught us to be a good influence on others," said PS 21 students thanking the NYPD officers for teaching the ‘Too Good For Drugs’ Curriculum. “Thank you and stay safe.”
 
Laura Timoney, BP Oddo's Deputy Director of Education, address the students speaking on why the 'Too Good For Drug" Program is important: “You all know you do better on a test when you study. That’s what this program exist for: to prepare you for the time when you’re faced with a tough decision of following along with your friends or choosing to say no."

At the end of the ceremony, students took a pledge to abstain from tobacco, alcohol and drugs, led by NYPD Chief Kenneth Corey.

​Yesterday, Borough President James Oddo joined with the Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech) at Massachusetts General Hospital, the State of New York, Northwell Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering to host Demo Day, the last leg of the Empire State Opioid Epidemic Innovation Challenge at Columbia University.
 
As part of Demo Day, six teams—composed of engineers, data experts, social workers, clinicians, and other professionals—competed in front of a cross-disciplinary panel of expert judges for a grand prize of $10,000 and six months of acceleration support through the CAMTech Accelerator Program (CAP) for their innovation.
 
The winner was Team Quick Reversal for their innovation of a nasal patch that dispenses Narcan to prevent opioid overdose. The runner up was Team Recover-We for their innovation of a search engine chat platform to link individuals to local prevention, treatment, and opioid recovery programs.
 
“The goal of this Empire State Opioid Epidemic Innovation Challenge was to have talented individuals work together to create solutions to address the local and national opioid crisis,” said Borough President James Oddo. “I’m pleased to see we have accomplished this goal. It’s a pleasure to do such important work with the Governor’s Office, NYS OASAS, Northwell Health, Columbia University’s Public Health and Engineering Schools, and CAMTech. I am looking forward to applying the best and most creative solutions from Demo Day to address the opioid epidemic on Staten Island.”
 
The Empire State Opioid Epidemic Innovation Challenge served as an open-innovation platform for a diverse community to co-create solutions that would have the potential to change the trajectory of the local and national opioid crisis. The idea for the challenge came from the BP’s Policy Team, who learned about a successful opioid “Hack-A-Thon” hosted by CAMTech in Boston in 2016. The Borough President’s office reached out to CAMTech and collaborated with them to create a similar event in New York City.
 
Demo Day served as a competition for teams to show progress made 90 days after first formulating their solutions at the Challenge Summit and Solutions Sprint in September 2018. All 12 teams that formed during the Solutions Sprint were eligible to compete at Demo Day.
 
At the Solutions Sprint, four teams received seed funding and three months of acceleration support leading up to Demo Day: Team Random Access Network (RAN) with the innovation to link individuals with certified peer advocates to meet patients at hospitals and treatment recovery centers; Team Recover-We for innovating a search engine chat to link individuals with prevention, treatment, and opioid recovery programs; Team Quick Reversal for innovating a nasal patch that dispenses Narcan to prevent opioid overdose; and Team Addiction Recovery Kit (ARK) for innovating a kit that aggregates existing prevention, treatment, and recovery tools for hospitals, needle exchanges, detox centers, and rehab facilities.

On Friday, January 18, Deputy Borough President Ed Burke joined with members of the NYPD to congratulate the 5th and 7th grade students who participated in the "Too Good For Drugs" program at PS 48, PS 9, and St. Christopher’s School. The “Too Good For Drugs” curriculum is co-taught in the classroom by a police officer and a teacher. The program, which is in its fifth year, takes place in 5th, 7th and 9th grade classes in public and parochial schools across the borough.

Deputy BP Ed Burke addressed the students and talked about the importance of having mentors such as teachers and police officers: “The Too Good For Drugs Program partners our wonderful teachers with our local police officers to educate the future of Staten Island to have the knowledge to make the right choice and empower them to be a good influence in their community.”

Assistant Chief Kenneth Corey, Commanding Officer of NYPD Patrol Borough Staten Island, spoke to the students in attendance about the importance of making good decisions. 
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At the end of the ceremony, students took a pledge to abstain from tobacco, alcohol and drugs.