Thursday, Jan. 26 2012 6:56PM
Working toward a more caring community
By T.R. Hanrahan
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ReprintBy T.R. Hanrahan thanrahan@lsjournal.com
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series profiling Lee’s Summit’s many non-profit agencies.
Choices abound for teens, and Roby Little and Lee’s Summit CARES want to help them make good ones.
Little, Lee’s Summit CARES’ executive director, said the organization is a coalition that brings together different sectors of the community to collaborate on issues concerning alcohol, drug abuse and youth violence. She said those “at the table” include representatives from public safety, parks and recreation, the city council, the school board, health care, faith, business and families. While most groups with shared goals focus on treatment, Little said CARES likes to get ahead of that aspect.
“My coalition works on prevention,” she said. “We believe in order to help prevent these problems we have to work with families.
“That’s what makes us successful. That is something I am very proud of – we incorporate prevention, character and family”
One program Little said is showing great progress is DARE. That program has been giving pre- and post-program tests to youths and she said the results are encouraging. “We feel our DARE program is excellent in Lee’s Summit,” Little said. “Those tests let us evaluate and see how it is working and I think the results show DARE does make a difference.” Little said what the participants think is as important as what they know.
“It tests teens’ knowledge, but another key is assessing their attitudes,” she said. “We want to see if attitudes change from the beginning of the course to the end of the course.” Little said the main problems Lee’s Summit CARES sees in the area are marijuana, alcohol and prescription drugs.
“We are concerned about marijuana because of the perception some have that marijuana is safe because of medicinal marijuana laws in other states,:” she said. “Teens tell us they are not smoking cigarettes because they are smoking marijuana.”
Little said Lee’s Summit CARES has initiated a marijuana task force that has an action plan and timeline.
With teen alcohol use, Little says the organization focuses again on the preventative side of the ledger.
“You can’t stop alcohol use 100 percent,” she said. “We work to decrease alcohol use among teens and raise the age of onset.
“We have done a lot of education in schools. Our job is not to catch teens drinking, our job is to keep kids from drinking.”
Lee’s Summit CARES also works regularly with area businesses and the Lee’s Summit Police Department on Prescription Take Back Days. The next scheduled one is scheduled for Feb. 4. “Most teens get prescription drugs out of someone’s cabinet,” Little said. “So, if you can get rid of old prescription drugs, you obviously have less out there.” Lee’s Summit CARES is becoming interested in another area of concern, too.
“We are getting very worried about synthetic drugs,” she said. “That problem is on our radar and we are gong to have to deal with that coming down the road.” Lee’s Summit CARES also provides tobacco cessation classes and other programs to help teens make good choices.
“When we begin a new project, we ask ourselves three things,” Little said. “Does it fit into our mission? Is it needed in our community? How will we fund it?” Little said the group receives funding from a myriad of sources. Grants, donations, anti-drug tax dollars and United Way funds all play a role. “It’s pretty fluid,” she said. “We start off every year re-funding.
“All nonprofits face the funding issue – How do we stay funded?”
