Hello 1990.'.
9
un
po
By Spe r
Capilai News Service
lANSI G - Ensuring a heal­
thy, productive, drug-free path
for Michigan youth is - being
made e ier since the governor
a ded grants to the Student
Assi tance programs statewide,
The multi-thousand dollar
grants are provided through the
governor's discretionary fund,
and supplements the govern:
nt fuadi ytar
for the Student A i tance
progr . In total, the funding
represents approxim tely half
of the $3.2 million b dgeted for
the state's ubstance abuse
prevetion and education
programs in the K-12 system.
Eleven of the state's 18 sub-
t nee buse services (SAS)
agencies received implementa­
tion grants of varying amounts:
the Capitol Area SAS Commis-
ion received $98,291, East
Upper Peninsula SAS;'$98,291,
Genesee SAS; $80,891,
Midstate SAS; $98,291,
M comb County Community
ent I Health; $97,897, Kent
County Health Department;
$98,291, South-E ster
Mic . an SAS; $49,30, West
Upper Peninsula SAS; S89,8S1,
W e County Community
ent I He Ith; $98,291, and
So -Ce al SAS; $92, 242
Ot er service encie
received planDi grant of
15,000 a piece,. order to .
ti te more e en ive s b­
It. ee abuse prevetio
amm.·1 aa i the future:
l*'CIOI:aeDl R
•
Oakland County Healt
Dep rt en, City of Detroit
H Department d K.eDt
County Health DepartmeDt.
The funding for both types of
gr nt is h If of what was
rded through the
Governor's Initiative Grant this
year, id Barry Mintzes, spe­
cial a i t nt to the ad­
m'inistrator of the Office of
•
t ai
r
Plan is
Governor'
IIfav ritell
Sub t nee Abuse Services
(OSAS.)
OSAS is largely accountable
for the funding of the Student
Assistance programs, because
of their winning proposal made
over three years ago. The or­
ganization admini ters the
governor's discretionary fund
which make th grants possible.
The total funding will imple­
ment the programs within in­
dividual schools to identify and
refer tudents experie cing
problems such a ubst nee
abuse, health-related issues, in­
cest, family violence, depres-
ion d ui ide.
.Te chers of kinderg rten
throu h twelfth grade par­
ticipate in the program general­
ly, but the empha i of the
curre t p . . derprteD
thro . pade.
Each school will ha • core
team of traiDecl by the
. ci
rec:eMd tile to .
tily t de . ta proble .
Ideally, tlase p pill will be
spotted early· .
al careen to ill" 1lIJIIO¥e
perlOfllllIDCC
. J
OSAS.
-rile best time to rec:opfu
potential prob in students
. in the early gr bees by
the time problem kids re cl.l
. school they y be abusing
ces alre dy,· he said.
Also involved . Miller
of the Capitol Area Substance
Abuse Commission which ser-
G dlydo
to African A rl
community In t
d spell
I
• •
eachers
student
ves schools in Clinton, Eaton,
Gratiot, Ingham and Shiawas­
see counties. She authored and
coordinates the program in that
area.
"The teachers are trained to
follow an objective checklist,
when they suspect a certain
child has a problem or a
problem exists in their hom ,"
Miller said. "No diagnosis is
done at that level. A licensed
agency screens the child nd
ma es a br ad ed
ment. It takes one to one and a
half hours and a solution is
worked on from there." .
Unlike other state funded
programs such as Project
DARE and the Michigan
. Health Model, which are
primarily educational, the Stu- .­
dent Assistance program works
to prevent drug abuse and
violence-related problem. in a
discreet m nner. .
The program has been ex­
panded this year, because of the
additional funding. The
governor's grants are expected
to pay for the teacher's core
team tr ining, teaching sup­
plies, the ubstitu e fees needed
to rete e teaching staffs for
training d to .facilita e train­
ing for udent support groups -
- which re expected to
COlD the program.
"We·QIl do a Dice of
work " the money,. M· r
. ." ADd we'\te been very uc­
cessful so far.·
Althouch only 11 of the
e's 18 ser-
vice will be fuaded by the
o rnor's gra t t is ye r,
W er said, there is no great
rry.
"We're 0 terribly disap­
pointed that can't � aU .18
ageDcie at- once, he Said.
"Since it' our first year of inteD­
live revie on the project"
ucallDl. • s better to t . OD
j 11, and perfeet i for the
liter
It's great program: e
dded, "and it's the governo
favorite."
r
z
Forty per cent of
I
Blac 'children
liv
in pOY, r y
.ificant f ctor driving I rge
numbers of Black youth toward
t e illegal drug industry i
poverty. Echoing thi view
BI c politican leader J e e
J ckson commented, "You can
only. fight a ucce sful war
agam· Sl dru by fighting war
agaJJtlSI poverty."
B
lion have had virtually DO
beDCfit for the • • poor.
The report which focused on
the Dumber of poor under
18, found that 40% ofB aDd
Hispanic Children are gr .
up in poverty compared to ap­
proximately 19% of white
-children.
