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We’re launching our new webinar entitled “Bullying: Roles & Resources; Facts & Figures” on Friday, October 19th at 3pm ET.

To celebrate Bullying Prevention Month, we’re offering a 20% discount to the first 10 people to register for this Friday’s presentation.

This hour-long presentation is full of resourceful information that will enable you to combat the problem of bullying in your community or school.

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NIDA launches new online checkup tool

The National Institute on Drug Abuse launched a new online tool parents can use to promote positive parenting skills, and too keep their kids drug-free. The tool is called Family Checkup: Positive Parenting Prevents Drug Abuse and it was developed by the Child and Family Center at the University of Oregon. The tool was launched to further promote National Substance Abuse Prevention Month.

It asks parents five questions about their interactions with their children. The questions are interactive, showing videos as examples of parenting skills parents can use with their own children.

To learn more about the online tool, click here.

Funding Opportunity for Maine: Inland Hospital Community Benefits Program

Inland Hospital is accepting applications for mini-grants through its Community Benefits Program. The program was created to support community projects and organizations that help strengthen the greater Waterville area and improve the overall health and well-being of residents.

The organization seeks applications that meet community health improvement priorities as identified in the 2011 OneMaine Health Collaborative Community Health Needs Assesment. Successful applications will address at least one of the following: obesity prevention; chronic disease prevention and management of diabetes heart disease, or asthma; access to care; substance abuse prevention; dental health; and mental health.

Applications are due by Monday, October 29, and can be completed online at inlandhospital.org (click on About Us and Community Benefit).

For more information, e-mail tpoissonnier@emhs.org or call 861-3392.

Former application process to request community benefit funding.

Contact: http://inlandhospital.org/about_us.aspx?id=8570

Deadline: October 29, 2012.

Funding Opportunity for California: ASES Universal Grant Request for Applications

After School Education and Safety (ASES) Universal Grant Request for Applications

Grant: The ASES Program is the result of the 2002 voter-approved initiative, Proposition 49. These programs are created through partnerships between schools and local community resources to provide literacy, academic enrichment and safe, constructive alternatives for students in kindergarten through ninth grade. Funding is designed to: (1) Maintain existing before and after school program funding; and (2) quality eligibility to all elementary and middle schools that submit quality applications throughout California. The Universal application is for new applicants and for existing grant recipients who wish to increase funding. Approximately $10 million in funding is available for ASES Universal grants.

Funder: California Department of Education Funding

Eligible Applicants: Local educational agencies, nonprofit organizations, other organizations or agencies.

Required Eligibility Criteria: ASES programs at elementary and middle/junior high schools. Nonprofit organizations may apply, but the local educational agency or the public agency must agree to act as the fiscal agent of the grant.

Amount: Approximately $10 million in funding is available for ASES Universal grants.

Contact: http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/profile.asp?id=2338

Deadline: January 17, 2013

Botvin LST to be included in Laguna Beach Unified School District Prevention, Intervention and Restorative plans

The Laguna Beach Unified School District Alcohol & Other Drug Prevention Steering Committee has included Botvin LST in their new Multi-Year Implementation Plan. The plan will take over the course of three years and will focus on Prevention, Intervention and Restoration.

LST will be implemented in grades 4 through 9. The Committee’s plan also includes endeavors to increase parent education opportunities, parent support groups, and student activities.

Laguna Beach Unified School District students exceed California state rates for students who have tried alcohol in their lifetime. Although the percentage has decline within the past two years, Director of Special Education/Student Services Irene White says the school district still has much work to do.

The Laguna Beach Community Coalition, consisting of 16 agencies, is also committed to reinforcing the importance of prevention in the community.

To read the whole article, click here.

Study on teens smoking have similar problems as adults who stop smoking

A study conducted by Brown University found that teens have similar problems as adults who have stopped smoking.

The psychological difficulties of attempting to quit smoking in adulthood are just as strong and prevalent for adolescent smokers. “Adolescents are showing – even relatively early in the dependence process – significant, strong, negative effects just after acute abstinence from smoking,” said L. Cinnamom Bidwell. Bidwell is the assistant professor in psychiarty and human behavior at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies.

In the study, teens showed significant withdrawal symptoms even after one day of abstaining from smoking. The study involved 96 teens between the ages of 13 and 19. The teens were dividied into three experimental groups: nonsmokers (22), smokers who were asked to abstain from smoking for almost a day (47), and smokers who were allowed to continue smoking (27). The teens in the study have been smokers for almost two years and smoke about nine cigarettes a day.

To read the outcomes of the study, click here.

More Smoking Scenes in Youth-Rated Films

Last year, tobacco use increased by 34 percent per movie that was targeted at children and teens. Researchers of this study saw a dramatic rise in smoking scenes in the top-grossing U.S. films with a G, PG, or PG-13 rating.

Researcher Stanton Glantz, PhD of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco said, “The growth in onscreen tobacco use in 2011 reversed years of progress toward tobacco-free youth-rated movies.”

Past studies have shown that exposure to onscreen tobacco use encourages young people to smoke or use tobacco products. According to the study, the average number of scenes that involved tobacco in G and PG-rated films rose by 311 percent in 2011.

From 2005 to 2010, three major film studios (Comcast/Universal, Disney, and Time Warner), had a goal to reduce the number of onscreen scenes including tobacco use in a way to prevent youth from smoking, however the recent rise in smoking scenes in youth-rated films says a different story.

To read the full article, click here.