March 30, 1995 Contact: Francine Tyler (408/459-2495)

UC SANTA CRUZ AND THE UC SYSTEM RECEIVE $172,510 FEDERAL GRANT FOR PLANNING ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE PREVENTION PROGRAMS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--A federal grant awarded to the University of California system has made it possible for health educators from UC Santa Cruz's Cowell Student Health Services to help plan a UC systemwide alcohol and drug abuse prevention program.

The receipt of the grant this academic year marks the first time the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) has awarded such a grant to a state educational system. FIPSE funds about 40 organizations nationally each year.

Acting as leader for the northern region, UC Santa Cruz has received $43,000 of the $172,510 federal grant, plus an additional $17,000 from the northern California UC campuses to pay for costs associated with administering the planning process for the region.

"The grant provides the campuses with money to decide what kinds of programs we should have at the university," said Anita Diaz, director of Cowell Student Health Services at UCSC. "We expect this planning will result in programs that are better coordinated and serve the students better. We are fortunate on this campus to have the strong support of both the chancellor and the vice chancellor for Student Affairs."

Alcohol and drug abuse on college campuses, including the nine UC campuses, should be reduced, said Jesus De La Rosa, alcohol and other drug abuse prevention coordinator. Research shows that college students use alcohol and drugs more than any other age group and more than their peers not attending college.

UC staff and student health educators started meeting monthly in September to discuss abuse prevention strategies at each campus. In May, the group plans to meet with UC student affairs vice chancellors from each campus to present a five-year agenda for prevention programs and set a UC policy on drug and alcohol abuse. With the grant, the health educators will then continue meeting and refining the programs and policies until August 1996. --more--

Through this process, health educators hope to give high-level administrators an improved understanding of the programs required, as well as impress them with the need for funding. The health educators also say the process will result in a sharing of program ideas.

The grant came at a good time for UCSC, said Diaz, because a two-year Peer Education grant from FIPSE that provided funds for many of the campus's alcohol and drug abuse prevention efforts ended in December. "We will have to do some planning now around what we need to do long term," she said.

UCSC's expired grant helped pay for a variety of drug and alcohol abuse prevention programs, including on-campus social events, such as dances, designed to teach students they could enjoy themselves without drinking. It also supported a peer educator program where students recovering from drug or alcohol abuse talked to other students about their experience.

Although these programs were severely curtailed when the funding expired, Diaz hopes to fully restart them, perhaps using another grant or student registration fees. "We're trying to make these programs a permanent part of our organization," she said. "We're open to exploring any way that can happen."

Press Releases Home | Search Press Releases | Press Release Archive | Services for Journalists

Maintained by:pioweb@cats.ucsc.edu