After recognizing that Philadelphia's education on the opioid epidemic and administration of naloxone largely sidelines youth, University of Pennsylvania undergraduates Anisa Sharma and Alicia Zhang learned about the Carter County Drug Prevention Coalition, a county in Tennessee’s interactive approach to mitigating the effects of the opioid epidemic. 

Adapting the program’s interactive activity to Philadelphia’s context and population, Anisa and Alicia joined forces with Penn Medicine’s Center for Addiction Medicine and Policy and Dr. Samara Jinks-Chang. To better understand Philadelphia youth perspectives, Anisa and Alicia piloted their curriculum at branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia. 

Now, the PYNE team is partnering with the School District of Philadelphia and Dr. Kendra McDow to prepare Health and Physical Education teachers on delivering PYNE’s modules to their classrooms. PYNE curriculum is integrated into the district’s Health and Physical Education. In alignment with various National Health Education Standards, curriculum focuses on health information, decision-making, skill development, and advocacy to support health and well-being of students and their communities.