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Meet our Project Director
Traci Cross has served as Director of the Castro Valley Community Action Network (CV CAN) since 2003. This community based coalition is committed to reducing substance abuse among teens in Castro Valley. She has also been the driving force behind the Youth to Youth a peer leadership program, promoting the reduction of drug and alcohol behaviors and inspiring others to gain self awareness.
As the director of CV CAN, Traci is an advocate of reducing drug and alcohol access and availability to youth in the community. One way she does this by taking a stand against the establishments of new alcohol retailers in the community. She also works collaboratively with county law enforcement agencies and Public Health to train youth to become undercover decoys to reduce the illegal sale of tobacco and alcohol to youth. With the rise of prescription drug abuse, CV CAN has hosted medication take back events over the past year, collecting over 600 pounds of unwanted medications, and has joined efforts with key officials to establish a permanent medication disposal site in Castro Valley. Traci was a part of the steering committee that brought forth the Social Host Ordinance in 2007 to Unincorporated Alameda County. The ordinance is designed to deter underage drinking by holding party hosts accountable for serving alcohol to minors. In the coming months, CV CAN will roll out the media campaign, “Parents Who Host Lose the Most,” to draw attention to ordinance.
When Traci is not serving as the director of the coalition, she coordinates the Youth to Youth program with middle and high school students in Castro Valley. She is passionate and dedicated to providing healthy alternative activities to teens, allowing them to become autonomous. Traci assists in shaping the youth’s identity, confidence, leadership abilities, and responsibilities, which successfully allows them to inspire other youth in the program to maintain a drug and alcohol free lifestyle. The greatest reward of her job is to see the growth in each of her students and how the program has impacted each of their lives. Most importantly she loves to see how confident they are in maintaining what they learned in youth to youth throughout their lives.
Traci grew up in the Bay Area and graduated from Castro Valley High School. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from California State University Hayward, a Master’s in Counseling from San Jose State University, and has attended a multitude of trainings on youth development, community assessment, drug prevention, and environmental prevention.