Local nonprofit helping Nigerian government combat drug abuse

Local nonprofit Bayfront Youth & Family Services recently hosted delegates from Sokoto State, Nigeria, West Africa as the beginning of a cultural exchange of information in an effort to promote community mental and behavioral health and to address Nigeria’s growing problem of substance abuse among youth and the increased need for rehabilitative support systems, according to Brenda Elrod, community outreach coordinator for Bayfront.
Leaders from Bayfront met with Honorable Sen. Aminu Shehu Shagari and his wife Hadiza Aminu Shagari on Thursday, Jan. 8. Bayfront leadership conducted a tour of all three program facilities dedicated to serving children in need and located throughout Long Beach, including a 40-bed residential group home and an outpatient program building. Last year marked Bayfront Youth & Family Services 15th year in operation serving children and adolescents within foster-care and child welfare systems with unmet needs for stability, emotional support, nurturing and structure. The delegates have expressed their interest in pursuing program development that emulates Bayfront’s, Elrod said.

“Bayfront Youth & Family Services and our board are honored and grateful for the opportunity to show them our programs and work with them to achieve their goals of securing a better life for those Nigerian youth caught up in substance abuse cycles,” said Bayfront President and CEO Maryam Ribadu Jenkins, a Nigerian-born U.S. citizen.
For more information, visit BayfrontYFS.org, find them at Facebook.com/BayfrontYFS or email them at Info@BayfrontYFS.org .

Source: Bayfront