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State funds help Alliance put the lid on underage drinking
08/01/2006
CCISD Press Release
Clear Creek Independent School District
2425 East Main Street
League City, Texas 77573
(281) 284-0021
Contact: Carrie Ann Taylor
Public Information Coordinator
July 25, 2006
PR-2297
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
State funds help Alliance put the lid on underage drinking
Bay Area Alliance for Youth and Families awarded $593,487 to develop solutions for underage drinking
League City, TEXAS—The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Unit recently awarded the Bay Area Alliance for Youth and Families and Clear Creek ISD $197,829 annually for the next three years, totaling $593,487. The funds are from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Center for Substance Abuse Prevention Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant.
The Alliance and Clear Creek ISD received one of three grants awarded in Harris County designed to develop an in-depth needs assessment regarding binge drinking and alcohol-related car crashes among 12-25 year olds. The assessment is an essential component in planning, implementing and evaluating evidence-based programs, policies and practices designed to address the intervening variables related to binge drinking and alcohol-related car crashes among youth and young adults.
Goals of the grant include:
· Reducing the percentage of binge drinking among underage youth and young adults (age 12-25)
· Reducing the percentage of intoxicated drivers involved in motor vehicle fatalities among the group of underage drinkers and young adults; and
· Building prevention capacity and infrastructure at the county level.
Currently, Harris County leads the state in alcohol-related fatalities with 36 percent of the 543 motor vehicle fatalities in 2003 involving intoxicated drivers. Forty-one percent of these fatalities involved drivers between the ages of 12-29 of which 40 percent were intoxicated. In addition, reports from the Texas Department of Public Safety (2003) revealed that Harris County made 9,337 DWI arrests, 2,313 arrests for liquor law violations and 20,755 arrests for public intoxication.
The grant requires the Bay Area Alliance for Youth and Families to collaborate with other county-based coalitions, as well as Houston Crackdown, Harris County Office for Public Safety and Drug Policy and the Harris County Health Department. In addition, it requires collaboration and coordination of services with local universities and colleges including San Jacinto College and University of Houston —Clear Lake.
For more information about the Bay Area Alliance for Youth and Families, call Dr. Julie Purser Alliance Coordinator at (281) 316-5724.
—CCISD—
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