Drug and Violence Prevention Program

The proposed project is entitled the L.E.A.D.’s TN Implementation Project. The project purpose is for L.E.A.D. to strategically expand within Tennessee; implement new curricula, enhance instruction to improve teaching methods, and conduct program evaluations to reinforce the effectiveness of its programs. Within this project, they will also certify/recertify Tennessee instructors who are both educators and law enforcement/school resource officers. For every one instructor trained, 50 K-12 school age children are engaged, educated, and empowered in anti-drug and violence prevention and life skills education. Funding will support law enforcement and school personnel; purchase equipment and training materials; develop curricula for Advance Certification Training in anti-drug and violence prevention and life skills education; improve teaching methods; and conduct program evaluations to reinforce the effectiveness of its programs. L.E.A.D. offers law enforcement agencies, educators, and parents throughout the U.S. the most effective K-12 school and evidence-based curricula, Too Good for Drugs (TGFD) and Too Good for Violence (TGFV), that is tested and proven. The curricula are an educational intervention that will assure consistency with established evidence-based drug and violence prevention standards. We address what matters most: students, drugs, bullying, and violence.

The service area is the 11 counties within the 3rd Congressional District in Tennessee which include the following: Anderson, Bradley, Campbell, Hamilton, McMinn, Monroe, Morgan, Polk, Roane, Scott, and Union counties. The L.E.A.D.’s TN Implementation Project Beneficiaries are at a minimum the 8,250 K-12 students and 165 L.E.A.D. instructors who consist of both educators and law enforcement officers/school resource officers. The project’s primary activities are standard and enhanced trainings for their instructors; school classroom teaching of drug and violence prevention curricula; and instructor monitoring to ensure effective teaching methods. L.E.A.D.’s trainings are replicable, can be used anywhere, and come in different formats such in-service/in person for 8 hours-one day training or five day in-person training. The curricula taught in the schools is a ten-week format for the students.

Funding from this grant would ensure program quality assurance and allow L.E.A.D. to assess strengths and weaknesses, evaluate strategies, and develop corrective actions to ensure the consistency and quality with established evidence-based drug and violence prevention standards in order to benefit the students they serve with their curricula.