Thanks to a generous grant from the 2017 State Attorney's Safer & Healthier Communities Fund through the Miami Foundation, Informed Families will be expanding our Safe Homes Smart Parties campaign to address safe driving.

The program will reduce impaired driving by educating over 40,000 teens and families in 30 Miami-Dade high schools about the danger, consequences, illegality and social unacceptability of impaired driving through educational materials, educational activities and a targeted, interactive awareness campaign in schools and online.

As per the 2016 FL Youth Substance Abuse Survey, 26.2% of Miami-Dade County high school students admit to drinking alcohol; 12.7% admit to using marijuana; 16.4% admit to being a passenger with an alcohol-impaired teen driver; 5.3% admit to being an impaired driver;19.3% admit to being a passenger with a marijuana-impaired driver; and 8.7% admit to being the impaired driver. To reduce these numbers and prevent tragedies, teen drivers and their parents need exposure to educational tools and messages about the danger, consequences, illegality and social unacceptability of impaired driving.

The Safe Homes Smart Parties campaign currently addresses the need for parents to proactively work to prevent their teens from engaging in underage drinking and drug use by ensuring that alcohol and drugs are not allowed at parties held in their home or in the community. This expansion will allow the campaign to also focus on safe driving, which is often tied to springtime tragedies Safe Homes Smart Parties aims to prevent. 

The $25,000 grant will help cover the costs of educational materials and messaging to students and their families. Additionally, 10 high schools in Miami-Dade County will host a national speaker on the topic of intoxicated driving as well as a safety fair for students through a partnership with Florida SADD and the Florida Teen Safe Driving Coalition. 

Safe Homes Smart Parties takes place in homes, schools and communities across Florida from March 1-May 31, 2018. Learn more at www.informedfamilies.org/shsp.