YOUTHS HAD TO SELL PANEL OF PEERS ON PAYING FOR ANTI-DRUG MESSAGE

In several cases, the panel did not award grants because it was evident
that adults had done the applications.

When Columbus kids went looking for grant money recently to create
anti-drug programs, they didn't have to convince a panel of adults.

In the first effort of its kind in the area, a panel of youths has awarded
a total of $2,000 to other kids who have designed anti-drug messages for
their peers.

"I think it worked out extremely well," said Bill Crimi, executive director
of the Franklin County Prevention Institute, which will present the grants
at a reception today. "It exceeded my expectations."

Grants of $400 will be awarded to Youth Navigators Club of Franklin County
Teen Institute, 538 E. Town St., for a one-day retreat for sixth-graders;
Youth to Youth at Starling Middle School, 120 Central Ave., to produce a
music video with an anti-drug message; Whitehall Youth to Youth, 675 S.
Yearling Rd., to re-enact a car crash to show the danger of drinking and
driving; Arts Impact Middle School Youth to Youth, 100 W. 4th Ave., to give
dances and visit elementary schools and homeless shelters to send an
anti-drug message; and Outdoor Adventure Experience, 321 W. 2nd Ave., to
work on organizational and leadership skills in a camping trip to South
Carolina.

Crimi said he got the idea for the youth-empowerment grants from a similar
program in Wisconsin and enlisted the help of the teens who serve on the
Columbus Foundation's Youth Advisory Committee. They learned what anti-drug
techniques work to prevent abuse and how to evaluate applications.

The institute received 15 applications, and the youth committee interviewed
seven groups. Crimi said the questions asked were relevant, and the youths
"probably probed deeper than the adults."

The ideas as well as the applications had to be the work of youths. In
several cases, the panel did not award grants because it was evident during
questioning that adults had done the applications, he said.

"It proved to me young people can be entrusted with this kind of
responsibility," Crimi said. "I hope other funders pick up on this
demonstration and do this throughout the whole community."

At Starling Middle School, Shannon Springer, Teresa Gruszka and Meesha
Sparrow, all eighth-graders, will produce a video using original drug-free
raps and skits set to music by pop groups such as the Back Street Boys or
In Sync.

"Most kids listen to a lot of music, so we think they would like to hear
our music," the students wrote in their proposal.

Their $400 budget includes money for videotapes, costumes, "background
stuff" such as strobe lights and smoke machines and stickers to hand out
after the performance.

They plan to show the video to elementary-school students in May and follow
it up with a discussion about why they don't use drugs.

"You see a lot of kids trying to be like their big brother, but their big
brother is a drug addict," Springer said.

Linda Parzero, a counselor at the middle school, said the grant makes the
work easier, although the school would have made the video without it.

"We would have found a way."

Parzero was awed by the maturity the trio showed when they were questioned
about why their video would be effective, who it would benefit and how they
developed the idea.

"They were so prepared."

The idea of letting youths control the funding and projects appealed to the
Franklin County Board of Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health
services, which pays for the Prevention Institute. "All the literature on
prevention keeps reiterating: Let kids be a part of the solution," said the
board's Susan J. Lewis.

Jewell K. Garrison, senior program officer at the Columbus Foundation, said
interest is growing in having youths help make funding decisions.

In the past, the foundation used them to gauge the effectiveness of
proposals targeting youth.

"This is the first time they've had money they could make funding
recommendations on," she said.