Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Youth Act! For Human Rights, Youth Act! For Human Rights

Project Summaries

This pilot project, funded by The Ford Foundation, establishes Youth Act! For Human Rights initiatives in two locations (Washington, DC and Vancouver, W A), conducts social justice activism training for young people within these communities, challenges youth to put their newly learned human rights education into action, and provides a vehicle, via community advocacy summits, for them to showcase the results of their human rights activism.

Youth Act! For Human Rights presents a unique opportunity for young people to analyze and work to solve community problems from the root level. The comprehensive approach- through application of the human rights framework …

Project Northland: Outcomes Of A Communitywide Alcohol Use Prevention Program During Early Adolescence, Cheryl L. Peny, Carolyn L. Williams, Sara Veblen-Mortenson, Traci L. Toomey, Kelli A. Komro, Pamela S. Astine, Paul G. Mcgovern, John R. Finnegan, Jean L. Forster, Alexander C. Wagenaar, Mark Wolfson

Project Summaries

Adolescent drinking and other drug use remain major public health problems in this country, despite some encouraging declines in the prevalence of use.^1-7 Alcohol use among adolescents is widespread (e.g., 88% of 12th graders reported any lifetime use in 1992), even though drinking is illegal for essentially all high school students.³ Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for adolescents,⁸ with one third to one half of such crashes involving alcohol.⁹ Furthermore, early onset of alcohol and tobacco use is a risk factor for progression to more serious forms of drug use.¹⁰