Celebrating Barbara Zohlman Day, Every Day

Last week saw the start of a new era for the South Florida youth prevention organization, DFYIT.

After 10 years at the helm of DFYIT as Executive Director, Barbara Zohlman retired and the organization welcomed new exec. director Micah Robbins. Welcome Micah!

Barbara's mark on the organization and legacy within South Florida can be seen in the current generation of responsible young adults that are part of the DFYIT program -- more than 10,000 of them -- who have committed to live a healthy, drug-free lifestyle.

In fact, more than 200,000 youth, their peers, family and local communities have been positively impacted by the many programs implemented by Barbara and DFYIT within the region's schools since the organization's inception in 1993.

The ThinkTank salutes Barbara for her dedication, passion and vision of nurturing generations of drug free youth in our town.

Disclosure: I have been involved with promoting DFYIT since 2005, and The ThinkTank works on various projects, pro-bono and otherwise, to help support DFYIT's mission of encouraging youth to live healthy and productive lives by being drug and alcohol free. It is a mission and cause we strongly believe in!

To find out more about how you can become involved, please visit http://www.dfyit.org/.

And as our final tribute, here is a copy of the press release we issued to commemorate Barbara's service to Miami Dade county and its citizens.

Miami-Dade County Honors DFYIT Executive Director for 45 Years of Service to Youth
June 17th named “Barbara Zohlman Day” in Recognition of Contributions to Local Community

MIAMI, FL – June 29, 2010 – At its annual board meeting last week, local youth drug prevention program DFYIT (Drug Free Youth in Town) celebrated its leadership as it welcomed two distinguished community members to its Board of Directors for the 2010-2011 school year and recognized the lifelong achievements of its outgoing Executive Director, Barbara Zohlman.

In honor of her contributions to youth in Miami-Dade County and with her retirement drawing near, representatives from the office of Mayor Carlos Alvarez presented Ms. Zohlman with a proclamation from the County, declaring June 17th “Barbara Zohlman Day.” The honor commemorates 45 years of service to the children of Dade County; Ms. Zohlman was the founder, Executive Director and creative visionary of the Miami Children’s Museum; served as Executive Director of DFYIT for the past 10 years; and worked for twelve years as a Miami-Dade County teacher, where she taught art to children with learning disabilities.

Along with recognizing Ms. Zohlman’s lifelong contributions to the youth of Miami-Dade County, the board meeting was also an opportunity to welcome new board members Mayor Scott J. Brook and DFYIT alumnus Jasmine Jas. Sworn in by the Honorable Steven Liefman, the new board members were chosen for their unwavering commitment to serving the South Florida community and their dedication to keeping South Florida’s youth drug and alcohol free. Their advocacy efforts on behalf of the organization will play a vital role in the advance of DFYIT’s mission.

To date, DFYIT has more than 70 clubs in Miami-Dade and Broward County public schools, where it teaches youth about the dangers of drugs and alcohol and encourages pro-social involvement in their peer groups and within the greater community. Part of DFYIT’s success and expansion can be attributed to the development of community activities that can provide leadership skills to participating children and teens - an enterprise that seems well reflected in the accomplishments of Mayor Brook and Ms. Jas.

“Through her dedication and vision, Ms. Zohlman has built a strong foundation upon which to grow this important organization. We’re very excited about DFYIT’s new direction and the talents that these new board members will bring to realizing our goal of making South Florida youth drug- and alcohol-free,” said Micah Robbins, the new incoming Executive Director of DFYIT.

DFYIT’s 2010/2011 board instillation includes:

Leslie Share – President
Ralph Gazitua- Past President
Bruce Hayden -Vice President
Sarah Fernandez-Vice President
William Roppolo- Vice President
Perry Thompson - Vice President
Elizabeth Marquardt- Treasurer
Miriam Soto- Secretary
DFYIT Founder - Marlene Josefsberg
Gerald Greenberg
Jill Shockett
Felipe Blanco
Edson Briggs
Anthony Morin
Evan Goldman
Ramon Rasco
Dr. Larry Feldman
Scott Mallet
Mayor Scott Brook
Jasmine Jas

For more information about DFYIT, please visit http://www.dfyit.org/ and www.sobesober.org, or contact Vanessa Horwell at 305.749.5342 x 232 or vanessa@thinktankpr.org.

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About DFYIT
DFYIT (Drug Free Youth In Town) is a nationally recognized, community-based substance abuse prevention organization that focuses on and gives recognition to students who choose to live a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. With more than 70 DFYIT clubs in Miami-Dade County middle and senior high schools, DFYIT provides adolescents with social competency training, drug awareness counseling, conflict resolution skills, positive adult relationships, and pro-social involvement in their school and community. For more information on DFYIT, please visit their website at http://www.dfyit.org/.