Our Mission

The mission of the Bartholomew County D.A.R.E. Council is to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy and collaboration by D.A.R.E. certified officers, educators, students, parents, and community to prevent and/or reduce substance abuse and violence among youth.

What is D.A.R.E.?

D.A.R.E. stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. It is a drug abuse prevention education program designed to equip children with knowledge about drug abuse, the consequences of abuse, and skills for resisting peer pressure to experiment with drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

Based on the premise that prevention is the only long-term answer to drug abuse, the program includes all 50 states and 53 countries, reaching over 26 million kids a year. The D.A.R.E. program is taught in over 75% of the nation's school districts, creating a positive atmosphere for students to interact with uniformed law enforcement officers.  It was f ounded in Los Angeles in 1983.

D.A.R.E. teaches kids how to recognize and resist the direct and subtle pressures that influence them to experiment with alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other drugs. And since between 70% and 90% of all crime is drug related, it is absolutely vital that we reach children before it is too late.     

In Bartholomew County, the D.A.R.E. program is presented by officers from Columbus Police Department and Bartholomew County Sheriff's Department to 5th and 6th graders.   Local D.A.R.E. efforts are overseen by the Bartholomew County D.A.R.E. Council (BCDARE).  The council is comprised of community stake-holders who want to take an active role in keeping our youth safe.

To learn more about evaluations of the effectiveness of D.A.R.E. click here.

New Curriculum

Gone is the old-style approach to prevention in which an officer stands behind a podium and lectures students in straight rows. New D.A.R.E. officers are trained as "coaches" to support kids who are using research-based refusal strategies in high-stakes peer-pressure environments.

With research showing that adolescents, in particular, need to be involved in the learning process, experts shifted the focus in the new D.A.R.E. curriculum to include officer-facilitated work, discussion groups, and role-playing sessions. The resulting 'group dynamic' of New D.A.R.E. encourages kids to work together on assignments and think for themselves.  New D.A.R.E. is about giving kids the skills and information they need to make good life choices."

Specially selected and highly trained officerspresent the new D.A.R.E. to our kids.  The nine lessons include education on tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs, as well as skills in taking charge of situations and making good decisions. 

D.A.R.E. students compose essays to summarize what they have learned in D.A.R.E. and to make their pledge to stay free of drugs and violence.

To learn more about D.A.R.E., visit the D.A.R.E. America web site, www.dare.com .

BCDARE

The Bartholomew County DARE Council, Inc. (BCDARE) is a group of local representatives dedicated to making DARE the best it can be in Columbus and Bartholomew County:

D.A.R.E. Council Members