ROCKVILLE CENTRE YOUTH COUNCIL, INC.

PO Box 193
Rockville Centre, NY 11571
WHAT IS THE RVC YOUTH COUNCIL, INC.? The RVC Youth Council, Inc is a non profit organization designed to ensure a safe, nurturing social community for the development of value driven youth with respect for themselves and others. The Council serves as a prevention model for the RVC youth community in developing anti-violence, drug and alcohol free projects. The Council is the sponsor of the Student Lifeline Card which provides safe rides 24/7 for high school and College age students who find themselves in harms way; The Council provides educational workshops on the dangers of Alcohol and Drug Abuse; The Council sponsors safe, substance free social nights such as battle of the bands and bowling; The Councils long-term goal is the establishment of a teen center in RVC. WHAT IS STUDENT LIFELINE? The Rockville Centre Youth Council, Inc. has partnered with Student Lifeline in order to protect the youth of our community. When the situation is beyond a students control and they want out, they can now call the toll-free 800 Student Lifeline number to escape to safety. Student Lifeline, a local organization, has been in business over twenty years, providing safe rides home for young adults who may be in harms way. Through Student Lifeline, cards can be issued to a student, valid for unlimited and free emergency rides, up to $100 per trip, 24 hours a day, all year long. The card can be used in a variety of situations - when a student is unable to drive safely or to avoid getting in a car with a driver who is impaired or to leave a menacing date incident or when ones vehicle breaks down, is impounded or stolen. Lifeline pays full fare plus gratuities (15%) to participating taxi and limousine companies with whom they have a prearranged agreement. Automobile accidents remain the leading cause of injury and death among young Americans. Drunk driving continues to enter into these statistics. Besides alcohol related situations, due to the fact that adolescence is a time of experimentation, socialization and exploration, this age group is part of an ever growing population that is sexually victimized. The card also encourages students to utilize Lifeline services in reporting information of critical import which Lifeline will impart to the appropriate authorities. Students may call with complete assurance of anonymity, something they have been doing with Lifeline for over twenty years, without the fear of reprisal or identification. A fatality is not only a tragedy for the families involved, but affects our community as a whole. We must all work together to make Rockville Centre a better place to raise a family and keep our youth safe. The cards will be given out free of charge, thanks to the sponsorship of the many other local sponsors found on the card. Please thank them by supporting their businesses. If you would like to make a donation to the Rockville Centre Youth Council to subsidize future programs, that would be greatly appreciated. We are tax exempt. Your support will not only safe guard our young, but save our community from heartbreak. If you have any comments or questions, please contact Mike Caffrey, chair of the Student Lifeline project for the Youth Council, vicechairman@rvcyouthcouncil.org . Please also visit www.studentlifeline for further information on this project. It is our strong belief that outreach and education to both the youth and adult community is at the heart of prevention and change. For this reason we are encouraging those parents when getting a card for their child, take the time to discuss the issues and review the information on the back of this sheet. The true benefit of Student Lifeline will be hard to measure. We may never know the good that comes out of it, but we will definitely know of the tragedy without it. Thank you in advance for your support. (over)

ROCKVILLE CENTRE YOUTH COUNCIL PO Box 193

Rockville Centre, NY 11571 KNOW THE FACTS
Underage Drinking Alcohol is the drug of choice among Americas adolescents, used by more young people than tobacco or illicit drugs. Underage drinking is a leading contributor to death from injuries, which are the main cause of death for people under age 21. Annually, about 5,000 people under age 21 die from alcohol-related injuries involving underage drinking. About 38% of these deaths involve motor vehicle crashes, about 32% result from homicides and about 6% result from suicides. Underage drinking plays a significant role in risky sexual behavior, including unwanted, unintended, and unprotected sexual activity. Underage alcohol use increases the risk of physical and sexual assault. About 45% of people who die in crashes involving a drinking driver under the age of 21 are people other than the driver. An estimated 8% of 16-17 year olds, 20% of 18-20 year olds reported driving under the influence of alcohol in the past year.

Domestic/Dating Violence and Rape/Sexual Assault Young women ages 16-24 experience the highest rates of dating violence; 20-25% of teenage females will be involved in an abusive relationship by the time she graduates from high school. More than three-fourths of young women raped or sexually assaulted knew their rapist either as a boyfriend, friend, or casual acquaintance. Dating violence and sexual assault occurs across all populations, irrespective of social, economic, religious, or cultural groups. More than half of all rapes of women (54%) occur before the age of 18; 22% of these rapes occur before age 12. For men, 75% of all rapes occur before the age of 18 and 48% occur before age 12. 76% of female students and 67% of male students reported that they had experienced incidents of unwanted sexual activity (i.e. unwanted kissing, hugging, genital contact, being felt up and sex). 50% of female students and 40% of male students reported that unwanted sexual activity occurred at parties, a partners house, a friends house or at school 42% of girls younger than 15 years old reported that their first intercourse was nonconsensual

Source: NYS Coalition Against Sexual Assault National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence