Omni Coalition To Address Risky Behavior

plans to tap into the community to identify children’s risky behaviors and launch awareness campaigns to keep them safe.

Volunteers are needed to join a new Youth Action Coalition composed of community members from a variety of backgrounds. The coalition will meet monthly.

To help identify specific needs that it should address, 1,700 students and 400 parents were surveyed during the 2010-11 school year. Those survey results have not yet been released.

Wendy Prado, prevention specialist at , said the organization hopes to extend the survey to , London and Holmes middle schools in District 21 to get a deeper sense of what issues local youths are facing.

While the coalition likely will focus on drug- and alcohol-related issues, “we want to find out what the needs are. It could be underage drinking or bullying,” she said.

In the meantime, is applying for grant funds that would help the organization sponsor community awareness campaigns, Prado said.

Earlier this year, participants joined the national "sticker shock" campaign, in which youths placed stickers on beer cases in local liquor stores to remind customers that it's illegal to purchase alcohol for minors.

Prado said representatives haven’t noticed an increase in youths’ risky behaviors; rather, the coalition is being formed because they know “it’s out there.”

Among the group's first assignments will to work with Omni officials to choose a name, logo and mission statement for the coalition.

Omni seeks at least one representative from the following 12 sectors to participate in monthly coalition meetings: Youth, parent, business, media, school, youth serving organization, law enforcement, religious organization, health care professional, government, civic organization and an “other” category.

The coalition will next meet at 7 p.m. July 25 at . To RSVP or for more information, call Wendy Prado at 847-353-1719.