'Time is now' for teen support
(http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/487575,5_1_WA28_FUNDING_S1.article)

NEWS SUN STAFF REPORT – July 28, 2007

By FRANK ABDERHOLDEN fabderholden@scn1.com

The federal government is looking to get communities more involved in stopping underage drinking and drug use, and Mundelein and NICASA have teamed up to become one of 18 communities in Illinois to receive $300,000 to develop a template for other communities.

"The bottom line is it's a planning grant," said Karen Smith, the program coordinator for NICASA, a leader in the field of substance abuse prevention and treatment that stands for Northern Illinois Council on Alcohol and Substance Abuse. They applied for the grant with the support of the Lake County After School Coalition.

Mundelein Police Chief Raymond Rose co-chairs that coalition and Mundelein will be the community the program targets. The $100,000 is an annual grant for up to three years.

"We have to start collectively, as a community, to get the message out about underage drinking and drug use," he said.

"We need to have the parents, church, library, park district, schools, take the barriers down and address this," he said.

Smith said the federal government made the grants available because they want to see everyone in a community work together to address the problem. "We will use this to put together a model community program that can be used by anyone in the county, state or country," she said.

Smith said there will also be surveys to help develop the plan. She said that besides increasing public awareness of the problem, they will also need to look at the symptoms that led to the drinking or drug use.

She also said that Mundelein Police Department's own initiatives over the past several years and their collection of data on the problem was a big reason they received the grant.

Rose said the approach must take several angles, from educating the teenagers and the parents, to helping libraries, park districts and churches to provide enticing activities that do not involve drinking.

"The time is now for youth, parents, schools and communities to rally together to address this very problematic and potentially lethal issue," Rose said.

He said he would like to see the program support a teen center and other alternatives to just hanging out.