Columbia's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) is releasing the CASASTART Field Guide: A Proven Youth Development Strategy that Prevents Substance Abuse and Builds Communities. Funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the manual is the result of nine years of research in cities around the nation where the program has helped prevent substance abuse and violence among high-risk youth.

"This is the first practical manual to show schools and communities how to get teachers, police, health and social workers to join forces to help kids at high risk of drug and alcohol abuse," said CASA president and former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Joseph A. Califano Jr.

CASASTART (Striving Together to Achieve Rewarding Tomorrows) is a neighborhood-based, school-centered program aimed at preventing substance abuse and delinquency among high-risk adolescents and reducing drug-related crime in their neighborhoods. It is a collaborative effort between schools, law enforcement agencies, and health and social service agencies to design a comprehensive program, involving tutoring, after-school activities, mentoring, counseling, family services, community policing, juvenile justice intervention and incentives.

For more information about the guide, call Lynn Galligan at 841-5227.