Pubdate: Sat, 04 Aug 2012
Source: Tribune-Democrat, The (Johnstown, PA)
Copyright: 2012 The Tribune-Democrat
Website: http://www.tribune-democrat.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4063
Author: Arlene Johns

NEW PROGRAM STARTS YOUNG WITH DRUG, ALCOHOL PREVENTION

JOHNSTOWN - This fall, The Learning Lamp will launch a new drug and
alcohol prevention program targeting elementary school students in
Cambria and Somerset counties.

Thanks to funding from a two-year $122,886 grant from the Pennsylvania
Commission on Crime and Delinquency, the program will be available
free to participating schools.

Too Good for Drugs is a research-based curriculum designed to help
students develop the skills to resist influences that lead to
risk-taking behaviors such as drinking alcohol.

Lisa Stofko, grant writer for The Learning Lamp, said the agency was
awarded the grant after several studies showed the need for early
intervention in this area.

The latest Pennsylvania Youth Survey results showed that one in five
sixth-graders in Cambria County already drinks alcohol. The figure
climbed steadily to 62.9 percent by the time students reached 12th
grade. The rates were similar in Somerset County, Stofko said.

The commission conducts the survey every two years.

Substance abuse also was identified as a regional problem by the 2011
United Way of the Laurel Highlands Community Needs Assessment.

Stofko said 18 percent of survey respondents identified drug/alcohol
abuse as the second most important issue facing the area's youth,
coming in behind disengaged parents, a major risk factor for early
drug and alcohol use.

Stofko said the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that key
risk periods occur during major transitions in a child's life,
including advancing from elementary to middle school, the time when
students are likely to encounter drugs for the first time. The study
was the reason the program is targeted for children in grades 3 to
5.

School districts that will participate include Blacklick Valley,
Central Cambria, Cambria Heights, Ferndale Area, Forest Hills and
Westmont Hilltop in Cambria County; and Conemaugh Township Area, North
Star, Shanksville-Stonycreek, Shade-Central City and Windber Area in
Somerset County.

Cambria County Drug and Alcohol Program has provided additional
funding, so The Learning Lamp will be able to expand the program to
additional districts in the county.

A version of the program also will be taught to children attending
after-school sites operated by The Learning Lamp.

The agency has hired a program coordinator who also will serve as the
lead instructor along with a second teacher who has a background in
psychology. Both are certified teachers.

For more information on The Learning Lamp, call 262-0732. To learn
more about the program, go to www.mendezfoundation.org .
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt