(COLORADO) — On Thursday, June 12, the Southeast Colorado Opioid Region 19 (SECOR) provided a public update on how its opioid epidemic education program is impacting the community.

The Colorado Attorney General’s Office was part of a national lawsuit pursuing compensation from pharmaceutical companies over the opioid epidemic. Each state in the lawsuit was awarded opioid settlement funds to deal with the epidemic.

Region 19 is made up of board members from nine counties in Southeast Colorado: Baca, Bent, Crowley, Huerfano, Kiowa, Las Animas, Otero, Prowers and Pueblo. Using the awarded funds, the region created an app called SoCoYoGo, meaning Southern Colorado Youth Go.

Users of the app can earn digital Pueblo chile seeds and then redeem them for free food, merch, and more around Pueblo. It’s a youth-only platform addressing barriers youth have when participating in positive and healthy opportunities in Pueblo County. Youth then earn rewards for visiting certain social and community locations that are redeemable at local businesses.

“We have a lot of assets here in Pueblo. We have a lot of schools and afterschool programs, and creating more like parks and things, like more activities for youth to do,” said Jessica Apodaca, Program Manager with the Pueblo Department of Health and Environment. “And so that’s where the SoCoYoGo program came from, is really creating those pro-social activities so that, you know, youth have things to do so they’re not engaging in risky behaviors.”

SoCoYoGo is a free service available on all devices and it can also be used on desktop at SoCoYoGo.com.