An AJC article recently told of three separate incidents in which young men died of a drug overdose. One, Jacob Samter, was 10 when he first dabbled in heroin. He was found dead Feb. 4 at age 22 in his Alpharetta home. The others were 21 and 20. Tragic.
Encouraging young people to avoid risky behaviors — whether drugs, alcohol, risky sexual practices, obesity and more — is a complicated and important topic that is one of United Way’s strategic five-year goals. Other goals include: families are self-sufficient, people have access to primary health care, homeless people are housed within one year, children enter school ready to learn and graduate prepared for careers, and babies are born healthy.
Consider this: In Georgia, 224,289 ninth-graders to 12th-graders used tobacco in 2009 and 310,000 used alcohol. Also, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, young people ages 13 to 29 account for more than a third of all new HIV infections each year. Even when it comes to obesity, one in five kids ages 10 to 17 are overweight in Georgia. Among low-income children ages 2 to 4, one in eight are already obese. Truly unfortunate.
“Many young people engage in risky behaviors — including overeating — because they have too much time on their hands,” says Vikki Morrow, former president and CEO of Girls Incorporated of Greater Atlanta, a local nonprofit aimed at inspiring young girls. “There are many other reasons why young people engage in risky behaviors, but the key to minimize this is for responsible adults to remain involved in their lives, keeping them physically active and providing activities and feedback to boost their self-confidence.”
For years, United Way has partnered with organizations such as Girls Incorporated, AID Atlanta, Families First and Gwinnett United in Drug Education to prevent young people from making unhealthy choices and to offer them productive alternatives. United Way has been in the forefront of influencing public policies to help ensure resources remain available for youth development.
We were ecstatic over Gov. Nathan Deal’s May launch of the Georgia fitness initiative SHAPE to fight childhood obesity. It is a positive step in showing that we can change the trends together. But it’s going to take a continuing community effort to keep young ones from engaging in risky behaviors, particularly during downtime.
“When kids are out of school with a lot of time on their hands, youth development and risk reduction programs need to be available for them. Without the structure of the school day, kids have more opportunities to engage in risky behaviors,” said Morrow. “That is why it’s important that programs give youth the knowledge, skills and motivation to stay away from drugs and alcohol, avoid teen pregnancy and stay active and healthy during the summer.”
So whether it’s avoiding drug or alcohol use, promoting physical activity, or even shunning this relatively new phenomenon called “sexting,” which involves sending sexually explicit images between mobile phones, we all must be key players in helping our children and young adults think critically and act rationally. We must help create one thing that will make them productive role models in their peer groups — one thing that will develop tomorrow’s leaders — success.
Milton J. Little Jr. is president of United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta.
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