Middle and junior high schools are invited to apply for three free years of training, technical assistance and materials to implement an exemplary program, Life Skills Training, which has been proven to reduce drug abuse and prevent violence.
The program will be funded at 35 sites nationwide by a $4 million federal grant received by CU-Boulder's Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence. The funding is provided by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, a division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
"Fortunately, we are past the 'nothing has been demonstrated to work' era of program evaluation," said Professor Delbert Elliott, director of CU-Boulder's Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence. The center also has designated Life Skills Training as one of 11 model "Blueprints" programs for violence prevention.
The University of Colorado center previously received two Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention grants totaling $10 million to implement the program at 70 sites nationwide.
The Life Skills Training Program is scientifically proven to be one of the most effective drug, tobacco and alcohol prevention programs nationwide. It has been cited as exemplary by the U.S. Department of Education, the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Life Skills Training begins in sixth or seventh grade with 15 lessons and continues for three years. It targets risk factors associated with tobacco, alcohol and marijuana use and teaches students how to resist peer and media pressure, develop a positive self-image, make decisions, solve problems, manage anxiety, communicate effectively, build healthy relationships and handle social situations with confidence.
The program also provides students with the true rates of drug use among adolescents and adults to correct normative expectations about drug use. The program's comprehensiveness is what makes it so effective, according to Sharon Mihalic, director of the Blueprints Initiative at the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence.
Deadline to apply for the program is April 30. Public and private schools, local education agencies, local public health agencies and drug prevention agencies are encouraged to apply. All sites selected will begin offering the program in spring 2002.
To apply for Life Skills Training funding call Abby Fagan at (303) 492-1266 or e-mail fagana@colorado.edu.
To download the application or obtain a Blueprints book describing the program and its effectiveness or to obtain more information, visit the center's Blueprints for Violence Prevention Web site at . Additional information is available at .