A 21-year-old program designed to help students make good choices before getting behind the wheel is now part of the Community Partnership of the Ozarks.
Safe & Sober was founded in 2004 by Springfield Attorney Kurt Larson. It provides free, prevention-focused videos and curriculum to middle and high school students and other organizations that serve youth across the country.
The program is designed to help students make safe, healthy choices when it comes to drinking, impaired driving, vaping, prescription misuse and related challenges. It also addresses root causes of stress, depression and anxiety.
Chris Davis, vice-president of Prevention and Youth Support at CPO, said the concept for the program started in CPO’s board room when Larson was at a meeting of the underage drinking task force.
"And he says, 'hey, I'm a local attorney, and I'm starting this program called Safe & Sober Prom Night, and I heard that you guys are focused on underage drinking, and...that's what this is a part of,' " said Davis.
CPO has a regional substance use prevention contract with the Department of Mental Health as a prevention resource in 21 counties. Davis was able to put Larson in touch with more schools, and the program grew from there. Today it’s active in 459 Missouri schools and741 schools in other states for a total of 1,200 schools and youth-serving organizations nationwide.
Davis said the program grew so quickly that Larson stopped practicing law for a few weeks because he was busy going from school to school hosting assemblies. Soon after that, he applied for a grant from the Missouri Department of Transportation, and he was able to hire a director. He said they've CPO has worked with Larson throughout the journey.
Brandon Jason, the director of Safe & Sober at CPO, said he wants to continue to empower youth to make good decisions "and respect them to be able to make decisions by just, you know, trying to give them quality information and...connect them with resources that will help them...hopefully make the best decisions."
Safe & Sober allows schools to implement the curriculum as they see fit. That might include incorporating messages into extracurricular clubs to reach more students. Assemblies always include a video featuring someone impacted by an impaired driver.
Jason said the resources available through Community Partnership of the Ozarks "will just bolster Safe & Sober."
Larson said in a statement that he felt it was the right time in his life to step back from Safe & Sober. He said that, as part of CPO the initiative "will not only live on, but thrive."
Larson continues to serve on CPO's Ozarks Fighting Back advisory board, which oversees all of the nonprofit's substance prevention programming.
