TeamSpirit
From Fall 1995Volume II, Number 3
TeamSpirit gives high school students the opportunity to play an active
role in preventing alcohol and drug use and impaired driving among their
peers. The program was developed by the Pacific Institute for Research and
Evaluation (PIRE) under a cooperative agreement with NHTSA and OJJDP. Like
the PERF project described earlier, TeamSpirit advocates a comprehensive
approach to the prevention of juvenile DWI.
TeamSpirit consists of two phases. The first is a summer residential leadership
training conference at which young people are equipped with the motivation
and skills necessary to plan and implement drug- and alcohol-free and anti-impaired
driving activities in their schools and communities. Each three- to four-day
conference is organized by a local sponsor, such as Mothers Against Drunk
Driving (MADD). School/community teams of 4 to 10 teenagers and 1
or 2 adult sponsors are recruited from local high schools and youth organizations.
Each team includes a smaller number of team leaders who receive special
training prior to the conference enabling them to facilitate the work of
the school/community teams.
Conference workshops cover topics including risk factors, effective prevention
strategies, leadership skills, and identifying, organizing, and implementing
prevention events. Each team develops an action plan, which includes at
least two alcohol- and other drug-free projects for the coming school year.
These plans often include alcohol- and other drug-free dances or excursions,
and walkathons and marches against impaired drivers.
The second phase takes place during the next school year, when school/community
teams, assisted by their adult sponsors and the local TeamSpirit coordinator
(usually a staff member from one of the sponsoring agencies), implement
their action plans. School/community teams also generate media coverage
to raise public awareness of the dangers of impaired driving and help the
local coordinator organize the next summer's TeamSpirit conference, where
another cadre of youthful anti-impaired driving activists will be mobilized.
To order a TeamSpirit brochure, the TeamSpirit Program Manual, or learn
more about the program and available training and technical assistance,
contact Craig Killgo, Youth Coordinator, NHTSA, 400 Seventh Street, S.W.,
Washington, DC 20590. Phone (202) 366-2670; or the National TeamSpirit Coordinator,
Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 7315 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite
900 East, Bethesda, MD 20814. Phone (301) 907-4233.
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Revised: October 22, 1996
