Case Western Reserve University will be using art as a weapon to battle substance abuse and AIDS in Cleveland communities.

The Case School of Medicine and University Hospitals of Cleveland department of family medicine are collaborating with the YWCA of Greater Cleveland and Music and Performing Arts (M&PA) at Trinity Cathedral on a new project in which the YWCA will offer a family-based substance use and HIV/AIDS prevention program to teens and parents. M&PA will implement the art portion of the project, and researchers will measure whether participation in the arts contributes to the success of the prevention program.

The program, called "tru 2 u," is targeted to African-American youth ages 11 to 14 and their parents in the Cleveland neighborhoods of Central, South Collinwood, Glenville and East Cleveland. Project managers hope to serve more than 300 families.

U.S. Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones recently announced the federal government's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention has awarded the project a three-year, $1 million grant.

"I am pleased to have been able to assist in securing these funds for this very vital program," Tubbs Jones said. "It is vitally important to develop effective strategies to help these youth lower their risks and strengthen the prevention capacity of the communities they live in."

In addition to providing prevention services to families with youth ages 11 to 14, the program aims to support African-American families' abilities to prevent risky behavior in their children, reduce the incidence of substance abuse and HIV in African-American youth, evaluate the program's effectiveness and enhance the community's capacity to continue prevention efforts.

"The teen years are a time of increased energy and experimentation," said Antonnette V. Graham, a professor at the department of family medicine and the project director. "Adding the arts to the prevention program offers some unique features not available in regular prevention activities."

The collaborators believe that adding art to the prevention curriculum will increase the interaction among program participants, grant a deeper meaning to the program, offer dramatic relief, provide a safe environment for teens to develop skills to deal with the social pressures to engage in risky behaviors, provide a positive role model (the artist) with whom the teen can bond and offer an interactive process and opportunities to bond with teens who are learning ways to resist risky behaviors.

The first component of the program includes prevention sessions for youth, separate sessions for their parents and a final session for youth and parents together.

The second component provides time for the youth to socialize and receive reinforcement of their learning. Parents will meet in support groups to encourage each other. During the second phase, half of the families will participate in a program enriched by the arts, facilitated by professional artists.

Families interested in participating in tru 2 u should call the YWCA at 881-6878.

Return to the online edition of the 11-13-03 Campus News.