Prevention Works!

Your Time--Their Future Campaign Targets Publications to Participants

To encourage adult participation in young people's lives, SAMHSA/CSAP has issued a series of publications that raise public awareness about the connection between youth involvement in skill-building and positive activities and a reduction in substance abuse. These guides suggest concrete steps adults can take to get involved in neighborhoods, organizations, workplaces, and communities. Each 10- to 12-page guide is tailored to a specific phase of the Your Time--Their Future campaign. The guides emphasize structured activities for youth by highlighting examples of successful programs. The publications are targeted to various audiences and designed for a culturally diverse readership; they feature people from different racial and ethnic groups. Two of the guides stress the need for culturally competent activities.

These publications encourage prospective volunteers to become active partners in children's lives, providing readers with suggestions for getting involved in prevention programs and a full range of positive, fun, and challenging activities. All the guides prominently feature the toll-free number and Web address of SAMHSA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI), which maintains a database of nationwide volunteer opportunities and offers a range of information resources on substance abuse prevention.

The Your Time--Their Future series includes the following publications:

• Positive Activities: A Campaign for Youth provides general audiences with an overview of the need for and benefits of the campaign. It explains how positive activities support the Nation's effort to prevent youth substance abuse and cites examples such as coaching youth sports, being a camp counselor, mentoring, storytelling--or simply doing more with one's own children or grandchildren. The guide lists additional campaign publications available to the public.

• Get Involved in Someone's Future: A Guide to Volunteering with Young People is designed to help prospective adult volunteers find opportunities that are right for them. It addresses questions they may have about time commitment, the effectiveness of positive activities, and conducting their search for a program that suits their time, talents, and capabilities. The guide encourages adults to consider their own interests when they volunteer and suggests ways to get involved through sports and recreation, arts and culture, the workplace, environmental improvement, faith communities, and other volunteer or mentoring programs. The guide illustrates each category with examples of programs, including Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the Hewlett Packard E-Mail Mentoring Program, the PONY (Protect Our Nation's Youth) community baseball and softball league, the United National Indian Tribal Youth (UNITY) program for young Native Americans, New York's Hoop Brothers basketball/counseling program, the Philadelphia Church Mentoring Network, and many others.

• Your Time--Their Future: Membership-Based Groups Provide Positive Activities. This publication targets civic and fraternal groups, alumni associations, Chambers of Commerce, faith communities, professional groups, and other organizations. It encourages such groups to use existing resources--such as newsletters, Web sites, regular meetings, community ties, national member networks, etc.--to start or sponsor a youth services initiative. Activities might range from offering parenting skills workshops to partnering with a local school. For instance, American Legion posts are establishing Safe Kids Communities while B'nai B'rith has committed to training 5,000 volunteers for the America Reads program. The guide includes a list of contacts and how-to publications specifically designed for membership-based organizations.

• Your Time--Their Future: Positive Activities Promote a Productive Workforce. This guide stresses the high cost of substance abuse to employers and encourages businesses to view young people as the future productive workforce. It suggests that corporate America get involved with youth through mentoring programs, community partnerships, event sponsorship, and other means, citing examples of programs started by Hewlett Packard, Nationwide Insurance, and Electronic Data Systems. It includes a list of contacts and how-to publications appropriate for businesses.

As part of this campaign, NCADI is also offering a Positive Activities Resource Guide. The publication, which will be featured in a future alert, is available for potential volunteers. For more information about the campaign, visit NCADI's Web site at http://ncadi.samhsa.gov or call 1-800-729-6686 (TDD: 1-800-487-4889).

To receive a complimentary copy of this PreventionAlert, call SAMSHA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) @ 1-800-729-6686, TDD 1-800-487-4889 (for the hearing impaired.) PREVENTIONAlert is supported by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and may be copied without permission with appropriate citation. For information about PREVENTIONAlert, please contact CSAP by phone (301) 443-0581 or e-mail gensley@samhsa.gov