Luz Southside Partnership –> Life Skills Training Program
Life Skills Training Program
Contact: Jason Gutierrez, Life Skills Training Coordinator
E-mail: [email protected]
Luz Southside Partnership
3819 South Evans, Suite 304
Tucson, AZ 85714
(520) 294-7620
(520) 294-1142 fax
The Life Skills Training program (LST) is a three-year science based prevention program funded by the Governors Office of Drug Control Policy as a State Incentive Grant (SIG). The Life Skills Training program began in September 1999 and will end in September 2002. The LST program is designed to affect drug-related knowledge, attitudes, and norms; to teach skills for resisting social influences that encourage drug use; and to promote the development of personal self-management skills and interpersonal skills. Luz Southside Partnership first implemented the LST program in the fall of 1999 at Roskruge Bilingual Magnet Middle School.
The goals of the LST program are to decrease substance use within the targeted population and to develop the personal and social skills of middle school students. The programs objectives include:
- Teach prevention related information to students.
- Promote anti-drug norms.
- Teach drug refusal skills.
The LST program is designed for middle/junior high students. Through evaluation the LST program was found to be effective with white middle-class students as well as with ethnic minority students (primarily African American and Hispanic). The target population includes students between the ages of 11 and 14 that reside in the Southside area of Tucson. This area is defined by the boundaries of Los Reales to the South, Speedway to the North, Santa Cruz River to the West and Country Club to the East.
Since the LST program was first implemented at Roskruge Bilingual Magnet Middle School, the 7th and 8th grade have completed all three levels of the curriculum. The 6th grade has completed Level I curriculum, however, due to time restrictions the 6th graders will not receive Levels II or III.
Currently the Jovenes Unidos youth component, which is composed of students from the Southside between the ages of 11 and 14, meet every Tuesday from 5:30 to 7:30. The youth component is receiving LST curriculum and is planning future activities such as a trip to Golf ‘n’ Stuff, Sidewinder Baseball game, Salsa and Folklorico Dance lessons. The youth component allows students who do not attend Roskruge Middle School the opportunity to participate in the LST program. Jovenes Unidos is continuously looking to recruit new members. Currently the Jovenes Unidos group is collaborating with other youth groups from Project Yes (New Horizons), CODAC, and the Kino Teen Center to create a Youth Symposium that will take place this summer.
Outcomes for the LST program include this sample from the 7th graders at Roskruge Bilingual Magnet Middle School who completed Level II of the LST Curriculum:
- 29% reduction of pro-marijuana attitudes.
- 39% reduction of pro-hard drugs attitudes.
- 35% reduction of pro-drinking attitudes.
- 45% increase of drug refusal skills.
- 51% increase of decision-making skills.
- 70% increase of general assertiveness skills.
