Project Outreach: Organizations Unified to Reach Youth

Youths of today are forced to deal with the external pressures of alcohol and drug abuse on all levels-from the older youngsters across the street pressuring them to be "cool," to the "cute dog" enticing them with the glamour of being the original "party animal." Through today's mass communications, young people are exposed to negative, self-destructive attitudes. It is important, therefore, to expose them to a more positive influence and try to reach them through parental guidance, personal contact, and peer pressure. To achieve this, the University of Missouri's Kansas City Chapter of the American Pharmaceutical Association's Academy of Students of Pharmacy, in conjunction with the Metropolitan Kansas City Area Task Force on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse, proposed the development of an annual drug abuse prevention program that specifically targets fifth graders in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area. A primary goal of Project Outreach (Organizations Unified to Reach Youth) is to unite drug abuse prevention programs in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area in their outreach efforts to give positive support to Kansas City's youth against alcohol and other drugs. Phase I of Project Outreach consisted of a series of programs for the parents in the community. Phase II entailed college students who spoke to fifth graders in their classrooms. These students also participated in poster and poem contents centered around drug abuse prevention. In Phase III, which featured an outstanding, motivated speaker, the sample group of 600 fifth graders in the area participated in a major event to give positive peer pressure to say no to drugs. Pertinent entertainment also was provided, and the governor of Missouri, John Ashcroft, attended the rally. In the future, each fifth grader will receive a free T-shirt as a tangible reminder of the main event. In Phase IV, to reinforce concepts presented in previous programming, the college students returned to the fifth grade classrooms to speak. Project Outreach programs are incorporated into existing drug abuse prevention programs and provide the foundation for the development of new drug abuse prevention programs in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area.