UNM's Campus Office of Substance Abuse and Prevention in conjunction with the Albuquerque Partnership, a nonprofit organization dedicated to substance abuse prevention, was recently awarded a grant from the United States Department of Education Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.
The $140,000 grant will help fund COSAP's effort to increase awareness on the dangers of alcohol and underage drinking on the UNM campus and the surrounding community, said COSAP Director Jill Anne Yeagley.
"We lost a lot of teens due to underage drinking last year and we're not going to tolerate it," Yeagley said. "Our goal is to have an even healthier and safer environment for the campus and our community."
Yeagley said that COSAP submitted a proposal for the grant last year, and while it received a fairly good score by the department of education's reviewers, was not chosen as the recipient.
She said she wanted to try again to prove how important the program is not only to the UNM community but to Albuquerque and the state in general.
"This is really a special collaboration," Yeagley said of COSAP's teaming with the Albuquerque Partnership. "It truly is a community/campus initiative that benefits untold numbers of people."
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UNM was one of 13 schools chosen to receive grant money out of 155 applications submitted to the U.S. Department of Education. COSAP joined with the Albuquerque Partnership in applying for the grant.
The grant will allow COSAP to undertake three major campus/community initiatives.
A portion of the funding will go to the research and implementation of the Electronic Checkup to Go, a program which provides a group of selected "at risk" students feedback and analysis on their drinking habits and is designed to motivate change in their consumption behaviors, Yeagley said.
She said COSAP also plans to use the money to fund five local substance abuse programs. The programs are aimed to curb the abuse of alcohol and illegal drugs.
Yeagley said the grant is especially important, because it will help aid the development of a "social norms" marketing program to increase students' ability to accurately assess UNM drinking norms and reduce binge drinking.
COSAP and the Albuquerque Partnership are also collaborating with the Albuquerque Police Department in the creation of programs to reduce binge drinking and underage drinking through community initiatives involving neighborhood associations, Yeagley said.
