Register for a LifeSkills Training Workshop

LifeSkills Provider Training Workshops prepare teachers, school counselors, prevention specialists, community youth educators, and other program providers to effectively implement the state-of-the-art prevention education activities and teaching strategies found in the Botvin LifeSkills Training program with confidence and fidelity.

Each LifeSkills Provider Training Workshop plays an important role in enhancing the confidence and skill capacity of participants, resulting in optimal implementation of the Botvin LifeSkills Training program.

Enhance your ability to effectively implement the Botvin LifeSkills Training Middle School Program by attending our next workshop:

June 2, 2009
Hampton Inn Philadelphia Airport
8600 Bartram Avenue
Philadelphia PA 19153

• Review the theory and research behind the LST Middle School Program

• Practice teaching strategies using lessons from the curriculum

• Learn instructional and classroom management strategies for successful program implementation

• Enhance your skill capacity to teach the LST curriculum with program fidelity.

Training certificates awarded. Breakfast and lunch provided. Seats are reserved on a first come, first served basis. For information on cost, materials and accommodations, click here.

Space is limited! Register before May 28!

Office Of Safe and Drug Free Schools 2009 National Conference

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) hosts “The Power of Change,” a conference to address issues related to civic and character education, crisis planning, mental and physical health, substance abuse, violence prevention, and more. There is no registration fee for the Aug. 3-5 conference in Maryland, so register early as space is limited.

Funding Opportunity: Grant Announcement

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) announces the availability of supplemental funds to support the expansion of methamphetamine prevention services and grant activities.

The purpose of this program is to allow the current 12 Prevention of Methamphetamine Abuse grantees to continue working and building on their previous activities and programs funded in announcement SP-06-005.

Eligibility for this funding opportunity is limited to the 12 methamphetamine prevention grantee funded under the FY 2006 Prevention of Methamphetamine Abuse RFA.

Click here to view the full grant announcement.

Applications are due by June 18, 2009

Funding Opportunity: Grant Announcement

The U.S. Department of Justice will award competitive grants of up to $150,000 to Weed and Seed Communities to support efforts to fight crime, drugs and gangs.

The Justice Department’s Community Capacity Development Office’s FY 10 Weed and Seed Communities Competitive Program provides discretionary grant funding to nonprofits and government agencies in communities that were not previously approved Weed and Seed sites but have been so designated by Congress.

Weed and Seed communities must “work to reduce crime and improve the quality of life for residents in a community primarily through the redeployment of existing public and private resources, addressing both crime and social related problems that without proper intervention often lead to violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activity,” according to the Justice Department.

Click here to view the full announcement

Deadline is December 1, 2009

Help Restore the State Grants Portion of the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Program

Action Alert from CADCA- 

“Last week CADCA sent a legislative alert encouraging you to fax letters to your members of Congress to ask them to make a minimum funding level of $294.8 million for the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities (SDFSC) program, which is the FY 2009 enacted level, a top appropriations priority. If you have not already responded to this alert, please click here to use CADCA’s Capwiz system and fax your legislators.

In his fiscal year 2010 budget request, President Obama recommended eliminating the entire State Grants portion of the SDFSC program. His budget also proposes adding $100 million to the National Programs portion of SDFSC for competitive grants to LEAs. This new program would result in a limited number of Local Education Agencies (LEAs) being funded.

If Congress implements this draconian cut, the current school based prevention infrastructures would be decimated in almost every LEA in the nation. Eliminating this program also has major implications for the field at large, because it serves as the portal into schools for other substance abuse prevention programs, as well as helping LEA data collection efforts through student surveys.

Our field cannot afford to see the SDFSC program zeroed out or cut below the current funding level of $294.8 million. Although we have faced similar cuts in the past, if this program is going to survive, we cannot be complacent. Without sustained and aggressive advocacy from the field, this program could be lost forever. Both Congress and the Administration must hear from the field en masse if we have any hope of restoring the program.

As the appropriations process moves forward, CADCA will send out legislative alerts at key points to have the maximum influence. No two alerts will be the same, so it is critical that the field responds to every alert.”

Cutting Prevention Funds Could Prove Too Costly

For more than a decade, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency has helped communities implement evidence-based initiatives, such as Botvin LifeSkills Training, to encourage healthy youth development.

Now,  as a result of a budget bill passed by the Pennsylvania Senate that would slash state funding, these programs could be in danger.  The state Senate budget bill, would cut $4.7 million for evidence-based prevention and intervention programs, $3 million for research-based violence prevention programs, and $3.13 million in state support for Weed and Seed.

This action could mean fewer support services for at-risk youth and their families, an alarming increase in problem and risk behaviors among youth, and ultimately, more youth entering an already stressed criminal justice system.

Citizens are encourage to contact their local member of the House of Representatives and vote ”no” on Senate Bill 850.

Botvin LifeSkills Training Congratulates New Drug Czar

WHITE PLAINS, NY – Top-rated substance abuse and violence prevention program Botvin LifeSkills Training congratulates new drug czar Gil Kerlikowske on his position as Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

The Senate voted 91-1 to approve Kerlikowske’s nomination as director of the ONDCP. During his confirmation hearing, Kerlikowske promised a balanced, science-based approach to fighting illicit-drug use and faced few difficult questions from lawmakers.

“We are very optimistic that Director Kerlikowske will support President Obama’s prevention efforts as a way to combat not only drug abuse but also unemployment and crime,” said Dr. Gilbert J. Botvin, an internationally known expert on drug abuse prevention and developer of the highly effective LifeSkills Training prevention programs. “Now more than ever, it is imperative that we focus our efforts on science-based prevention, which has been proven to reduce drug use and offers the potential for significant cost savings over time.”

Kerlikowske will not serve as a member of the presidential Cabinet but rather, he will have a strong ally in Vice President Joseph Biden, who helped shape federal drug policy while in the Senate. Kerlikowske who was the Chief of Police for Seattle for 9 years, supports combating drug use and crime with enforcement, prevention and treatment.

Historically the ONDCP has focused its prevention efforts on comprehensive drug policies and activities that include evidence-based prevention and early intervention programs.  These programs have resulted in fewer first-time illicit drug users, significant reductions in youth drug use, and an increased perception of the adverse health and social consequences associated with drug use.  Recently, the ONDCP announced plans to award $17 million in grants to community drug prevention coalitions across the country.

Funding Opportunity: Grant Announcement

The federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) will award grants of up to $500,000 to support family drug court programs.

The OJJDP FY 09 Family Drug Courts Program supports efforts to “build the capacity of states, state and local courts, units of local government, and federally recognized Indian tribal governments to develop and establish drug courts for substance-abusing adults involved with the family dependency court as a result of child abuse and neglect issues.”

The program must provide services to the children of the parents in the program as well as to the parents.

States, state and local courts, units of local government, and federally-recognized tribal governments acting directly or through agreement with other public or private entities may apply for funding.

Click here to view the full grant announcement

CADCA’S 2009 GOT OUTCOMES! Coalition of Excellence Awards

CADCA’s GOT OUTCOMES! Coalition of Excellence Awards are for coalitions that are effective change agents in their community – they have contributed to community-wide declines in their substance abuse problems.  These model coalitions have undergone a comprehensive community assessment, used these data to develop a community-wide plan, implemented a truly comprehensive response to their local substance abuse problems, and as a result, can document the community changes they have helped bring about and their contributions to population-level substance abuse outcomes.  If you think your coalition has what it takes, apply for the GOT OUTCOMES! Coalition of Excellence Award. 

 Awards will be given out in the following categories:

 Milestones Award (community-level changes in intermediate outcomes)

This award is for newer coalitions (in existence for less than 5 years) that can demonstrate they are making progress toward long-term outcomes as indicated by measurable, population-level changes in intermediate outcomes (i.e., community risk and protective factors).  Coalitions in this category have not yet achieved reductions in their long-term outcomes but can show that they are on the right path to success.  Coalitions must demonstrate that their community plan is feasible and that the dominoes are falling down (e.g., reduction in perceived availability of marijuana as an intermediate outcome linked to the long-term outcome of reduction of 30-day marijuana use). 

 Coalition in Focus Award (multiple strategies toward reducing use for a single substance)

This category is for coalitions that have successfully focused in on addressing a SINGLE substance abuse problem.  These coalitions can show how they have contributed to community-wide declines for a specific substance.  Applicants may be coalitions with a single focus (e.g., underage drinking coalition or a meth coalition) OR coalitions focused on addressing multiple substances but have had particular success at addressing a specific substance.  Coalitions must show how they have implemented multiple strategies to address the targeted substance or substance-related problem (e.g., reduced teen drunk driving accidents by conducting server stings using youth, implementing a conditional use permit ordinance, implementing an evidence-based alcohol education program in the schools, and “stepping up” enforcement of underage drinking policies).

 Coalition of the Year Award (multiple strategies toward multiple aims)

This is the premier award for anti-drug coalitions.  This category is for advanced coalitions that can demonstrate their contribution toward population-level reductions in substance abuse rates for multiple substances (e.g., underage drinking, meth use, prescription drug abuse, etc).  These coalitions are targeting multiple substances and/or substance-abuse related problems in their community and have developed community-wide plans to address each of the targeted problems.  Coalitions have implemented a comprehensive set of evidence-based strategies that include program, practice and policy changes and can show measurable community-wide declines in targeted substance abuse problems over time.

For questions, contact Evelyn Yang, Acting Deputy Director for Evaluation and Research at CADCA’s National Coalition Institute, at 1-800-54-CADCA (1-800-542-2322), ext. 243, or e-mail eyang@cadca.org.

Fairfield, CA Launches LifeSkills Parent Program

The City of Fairfield, CA put on a special Botvin LifeSkills Training workshop for parents who want to keep their kids out of trouble and away from controlled substances.

The workshop consists of three sessions from the LifeSkills Training Parent Program. In addition to a short orientation, sessions also cover family communication, parental monitoring and being a good role model.

“The sessions that we do in the parent project, we talk about what parents need to raise children and what support they need,” said Heather Sanderson, a program coordinator for the city.

The workshop, held at City Church in Fairfield, was advertised with a Mother’s Day theme, however it was open to mothers, fathers and adults of all ages who want to make a difference to children. The workshop included lessons on communicating effectively with kids, including techniques for non-verbal communication “and how to avoid misunderstandings and assumptions,” Sanderson said.

It is a spin-off of the Botvin LifeSkills Training program that the city holds for area kids. The traditional LifeSkills program incorporates science-based teaching to give kids the skills to resist using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (ATOD). Sanderson said between 600 and 700 kids graduated from the most recent LifeSkills program.