Money to help in fight against drug use

The Bay Area Alliance for Youth and Families has been awarded a $125,000 grant to help prevent alcohol and drug abuse among youths.
The money is coming from the Office of National Drug Control Policy. It marks the sixth time the alliance has received an ONDCP grant.
Dr. Julie Purser, the coalition coordinator for the Bay Area Alliance, said the alliance has been in existence since 2003. It's a coalition of parents, youth, law enforcement, cities, schools, faith-based organizations, businesses, youth-serving organizations, civic organizations, health care, media and government officials.
The mission of the coalition is to unite and mobilize a community compelled to create a drug- and alcohol-free culture for our youth," she said.
The grant funding, she said, is welcome news to the alliance, which looks at identifying environmental strategies that address substance abuse.
How do we change the culture in our community? How do we change access to drugs and alcohol? How do we increase the enforcement of the laws that are currently on the books? Those are the kinds of things we deal with," she said.
All the various sectors of the alliance work with the problem of substance abuse at some level," Purser said.
We can figure out a way to work together to come up with community strategies that truly address what we see as kind of our root causes of drug and alcohol problems in our community," she said.
The alliances' fiscal agent is the Clear Creek school district.
Clear Creek ISD is a benefactor of the great work done by the Bay Area Alliance for Youth and Families," district spokeswoman Janice Scott said. In an effort to support the Alliance's mission CCISD handles their finances, coordinates programs for our students with BAAYF staff and serves as a media liaison for the organization."