MADD grant funds local Youth In Action underage drinking prevention program

 

Laredo has been selected by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) as one of 20 communities to receive a $4,000 grant to develop Youth In Action (YIA), a program, which conducts community prevention projects to reduce underage drinking by limiting youth access to alcohol and encouraging enforcement of related laws. This funding was provided by the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs and Office of Justice and Juvenile Delinquency Prevention.

The Laredo I.S.D. Campus Crime Stoppers Youth In Action team will receive training on youth activism, media advocacy and literacy environmental prevention, and alcohol policy. The teams will then conduct environmentally-based projects, which will seek to partner youth with adults in keeping alcohol out of the hands of teens.

Alcohol kills 6.5 times more young people than all other illicit drugs combined. Seventy-five percent of teenagers say that alcohol is easy to acquire and approximately two-thirds of teens who drink report that they buy their own. It is a fact that 2.6 million teenagers do not know that a person can die from an alcohol overdose.

Laredo I.S.D. Campus Crime Stoppers is committed to reducing underage drinking in Laredo . YIA focuses on addressing community attitudes and working to change the norms that imply that underage drinking is acceptable.

“MADD believes in giving young people an intelligent, non-judgmental ‘no-use' message and engaging them in the support of the enforcement community to uphold alcohol laws and policies,” said Youth In Action national coordinator Leah Preiss. “This combination of education and engagement can help to minimize the devastating effects of underage drinking.”

The approach incorporated into YIA provides teens with a vehicle in which they are able to take the lead in changing the social, legal, and economic environment in their communities, particularly as it relates to attitudes and behaviors about underage drinking. The project goal is to reduce youth access to alcohol, and this is best accomplished by assessing where and how youth get the alcohol they drink and then helping to support law enforcement officials in their efforts to uphold alcohol-related laws.

The mission of MADD is to stop drunk driving, support victims of this violent crime, and prevent underage drinking. For more information on MADD or to view the National Academy of Sciences report on underage drinking, visit www.madd.org.