The city is no longer able to fund the DARE program for my school, so I was tasked with finding a similar program for our 5th grade. I happened upon a program called "Take Charge" through the county's Teen Services office. The 5th grade program is called "TNT - Towards No Tobacco Use" and focuses on the harmful effects of tobacco in all of it's forms, second hand smoke, stages of tobacco addiction, as well as teaching about effective communication skills, refusal strategies, and building self-esteem. The program consisted of six one-hour sessions and the county provided all of the materials, prevention specialist to teach the course, and a donut and juice party at the end -- ALL FOR FREE!!!
The 5th graders were raving about the program. They thoroughly enjoyed it and the teachers thought that it was better than the DARE program. I received positive feedback from parents as well. I wish that I could take credit for the program, but I can't. The prevention specialist that came was amazing and was able to relate to the students and be accepted by them right away.
The program also has another component - "TND - Towards No Drug Abuse" which I plan to implement in the 8th grade.
