HUB OFFICIALS TO OFFER ADVICE ON DRUG WAR

Two city officials will jet to the White House later this month to
dish advice on drug prevention at a summit organized by the nation's
drug czar.

``We're going to do a presentation on the value of working
hand-in-hand with the community on prevention and intervention,'' said
Michael Kineavy, director of Mayor Thomas M. Menino's Office of
Neighborhood Services.

The feds asked Kineavy and Boston Public Health Commission substance
abuse expert Rita Nieves to focus on the city's work with grass-roots
groups that through the city receive public money to fight drugs in
their own neighborhoods.

Seven groups now get grants, typically worth several thousand dollars.

Seven more organizations will be tapped in about 10 days, said Boston
Public Health Commission Executive Director John Auerbach.

``The mayor felt it made sense for us to do more than just offer them
advice and assistance but to offer them seed money,'' Auerbach said.

Office of National Drug Control Policy spokeswoman Jennifer DeVallance
said the national conference was ``a strategy of bringing folks in our
cities and states together to share information and best practices.''