Youth Award Nominations Deadline Extended Until November 6

Do you know a young person who has done excellent work with your coalition and in your community? Then, nominate them for CADCA’s Outstanding Youth Award. The winner will receive free registration for CADCA’s 20th Annual National Leadership Forum and will be presented with the award on stage during the Award’s Luncheon.

The Outstanding Youth Award recognizes an outstanding young person for service to a coalition and preventing substance abuse.

To be eligible, the nominee must have completed CADCA’s National Youth Leadership Initiative (NYLI).

Click here to submit a nomination now!

For more information, click here to view CADCA’s website

Attorney General Holder Addresses Pediatrics Conference on Children’s Exposure to Violence

Attorney General Eric Holder recently commended the American Academy of Pediatrics for their effort in addressing the problem of children and violence.

Noting the recently published findings from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s National Survey of Children Exposed to Violence, Mr. Holder described them as a “wake-up” call that cannot be ignored.

Click here to view Mr. Holder’s full speech.

Funding Opportunity: Grant Announcement

The Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) announces the availability of federal funds through the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Fund Program through the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance. Grant Funds are available for new projects only.

This grant solicitation is a two-phase process.

Some of the limitations that apply to these funds include:

• maximum awards will be $75,000, including matching funds;
• federal grant funds may be used to pay no more than 95% of an approved project; the remaining 5% of the approved project costs must be paid by the grant recipient with cash from non-federal sources.

Successful applicants will receive funding for 12 months, beginning July 1, 2010.

Click here for more information, required forms, and submission instructions.

 

Preparing grant applications can be a bit challenging.  LifeSkills Training offers several grant application tools to help you in applying for local, state, and federal funding.

http://www.lifeskillstraining.com/grant_writing.php

Funding Opportunity: Grant Announcement

The United States Soccer Foundation’s 2010 Program and Field Grants provides funding, equipment, and services for soccer programs in the U.S., and is particularly interested in funding organizations that incorporate a youth-development elements such as anti-violence, drug prevention, and healthy lifestyles into their programs.

Program grants are available for projects that do not contain a construction element. Eligible expenses include uniforms, player and team equipment, games and practice travel costs, facility rental costs, registration costs, and coach and referee training fees.

Deadline for the 2010 grants is October 30th.

Click here to view the full grant announcement.

Alexandria Educates About the Dangers of Buying Alcohol for Minors

A survey of the Northern Virginia area shows that many underage youth can obtain alcohol from adults-whether it is from their parents or strangers who agree to buy alcohol for them.

Teams of adults and youth from Northern Virginia have now joined together to launch the first regional Sticker Shock campaign. The Sticker Shock campaign is part of the Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition of Alexandria (SAPCA)’s efforts to educate adults who might be tempted to purchase alcohol legally and provide it to minors.

Groups of youth and adults have visited more than 100 Northern Virginia stores to place “warning” stickers on multi-packs of wine coolers, beer, and other alcohol products. The stickers highlight the penalties for furnishing alcohol to minors.

Click here to learn more about the program.

Using a Scientific Approach To Keeping Kids Off Drugs

A National Institutes of Health sponsored study find that communities, which use science-based approaches, can significantly reduce adolescents’ problem behaviors, including tobacco and alcohol use and delinquent acts, up to 33%.

For the study, 24 small and medium-sized towns in seven states were randomly divided into 12 towns that implemented the “Communities That Care” activity (https://preventionplatform.samhsa.gov/) and 12 similar towns that did not. The CTC work started by targeting children in the fifth grade. By the eighth grade, CTC community children were 32% less likely to have begun using alcohol, 33% less likely to have started smoking or begun using smokeless tobacco, and 25% less likely to have started delinquent behavior, according to their self-reports on surveys.

Click here for more information on the study conducted.

Study Finds Evidence For Interaction Between Age at First Drink and Adult Dependency

A Washington University study finds that brain changes caused by drinking before age 15 could predispose adolescents to a lifetime of alcohol dependency.

Arpana Agrawal, Researcher for the Washington University School of Medicine, stated that early drinking “may induce changes in the highly sensitive adolescent brain, which may also modify an individual’s subsequent genetic vulnerability” to addiction.”  Also found in the study was evidence that the age of first alcohol use correlated with a higher number of alcohol dependency symptoms.

Click here for more information and to view the full article.

Students, Whose Parents Set Clear Rules, Less Likely To Report Illicit Drug Use

According to data from the 2008-2009 PRIDE Survey, middle and high school students who set clear rules for them are less likely to report using illicit drugs.

Middle and high school students who parents set clear rules for them “a lot” or “often” were less likely to report using illicit drugs in the past year (12% and 21%, respectively) than students whose parents never set clear rules (49%).

Click here for more information and to view the survey data.

Institute of Medicine Report Says Seconhand Smoke A Killer

A report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), shows evidence that secondhand smoke can trigger heart attacks and urges those with heart conditions to avoid exposure to tobacco smoke.

The report, which was requested by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, noted that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Reasearcher Neal Benowitz stated, “If you have heart disease, you really need to stay away from secondhand smoke. It’s an immediate threat to your life.”

Researchers found “clear and consistent” evidence that smoking bans cut the rate of heart attacks, according to statistician Stephen Feinberg of Carnegie Mellon University, a member of the IOM committee that compiled the report.

Click here to view the full report.

Funding Opportunity: Grant Announcement

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will award a total of $125 million to states in supplemental funding for the Healthy Communities program, focusing on three priority areas: tobacco control, behavioral risk factor surveillance systems, and diabetes control and prevention. The money comes from the federal Recovery Act of 2008.

Recovery Act funds must be used for obesity, nutrition, physical activity and tobacco control strategies to change systems, develop and implement policies, change the environment in which eating, tobacco use, and physical activity occur, and impact population groups rather than individuals within the two-year timeframe for this award.

For more information and to view the full grant announcement, click here.

Application deadline is November 24, 2009