Following cuts, BCADA adapts to help kids

Since draconian New York State budget cuts forced the closing of Baldwin Council Against Drug Abuse’s treatment modality in 2011, the BCADA has been in full swing as a different kind of agency. BCADA now operates solely as a prevention modality, working hand-in-hand with the Baldwin School District. Executive Director Claudia Rotondo, who has more than 25 years experience, reinvented the BCADA in order to continue to have an influence in reducing substance abuse in the Baldwin community.

The BCADA’s focus has narrowed, and the agency is off in a new direction. It is ironic in some ways because prevention is how and where BCADA was ‘born’ in 1970, so, in essence, it has come full circle. Because of the miniscule funding, and because of the nature of the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse (OASAS) Prevention Guidelines, Rotondo was able to offer, at no charge to the Baldwin School District, a well-known and highly effective evidence-based Substance Abuse Prevention Program.