Who We Are - Overview

31 October 2000
Lemon Grove Receives $300,000 to Fight Substance Abuse

What:
Community advocates, law enforcement and health professionals kick off the LEMON GROVE DRUG FREE COMMUNITIES SUPPORT PROGRAM. Funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), at nearly $100,000 per year, the three-year program of the LEMON GROVE PROJECT will address substance abuse in the community and the problems associated with it. Project representatives will unveil statistics relating to Lemon Grove substance abuse problems.

Why:

	Lemon Grove ranks high in the risk factors of rates of homicide, firearm deaths and injuries, infant mortality
	School dropout rates, and suicides among teenagers in Lemon Grove also rank high
	54% of seventh graders report having tried alcohol (1999 California Healthy Kids Survey)
	24% of seventh graders have used alcohol within the last thirty days
	One third of seventh graders report feelings of depression lasting several weeks

When:
Thursday, November 2, 2000, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM

Where:
Golden Avenue Elementary School (auditorium)
7885 Golden Avenue, Lemon Grove
(Directions: I-125 South, exit Lemon Grove Ave, left on Golden one block south of Broadway)

Spokespersons:

	Dr. Russell Dehnel, Executive Director, Lemon Grove Project, 619-465-5864
	Chuck Pennell, President, Board of Directors, Lemon Grove Project, 619-460-3110

Note:
The Lemon Grove Project has the honor of being one of the programs selected nationwide to implement a three-year Drug Free Communities Support Program, with a funding level of $99,986 in the first year. The Project is one of four DFCSP programs funded in San Diego County, among them the East County Community Prevention Alliance, a project of Communities Against Substance Abuse. Selection for implementation of the Drug Free Communities Program is a signal honor, indicating the nationwide reputation developed by the Lemon Grove Project during almost a decade and a half of community initiatives to reduce substance abuse within the City of Lemon Grove.