Lakeland P.A.R.T.Y.'s overall goals and mission statement include participating in other initiatives and spreading the trauma and injury prevention message using dynamic methods in the field of health promotion. One way Lakeland P.A.R.T.Y. does this is by supporting youth who are interested in planning and implementing injury prevention initiatives in the community through the Injury Prevention By Us (IPBU) initiative. IPBU is peripheral to the regular program, offered as an option to all students who go through P.A.R.T.Y. each year.
Injury Prevention Projects
After the regular program, students who are interested in engaging in their own injury prevention projects are encouraged to identify issues and explore their own ideas to address them, building strengths and relationships in the community as they do so.
Projects are designed by students and carried out with the support of the school, teachers, various community members, businesses, and agencies. A manual and assistance for implementing projects is available by contacting the executive director.
Examples
A key feature of the projects is that they are student-led and speak to an agenda that youth value. They involve a wide variety of commitment-levels and objectives including things such as:
- educating peers and younger students in schools
- promoting healthy strategies to the community at large
- mall displays
- public demonstrations
- posters
- logos
- stickers
- T-shirt campaigns
- CheckStops
- TV productions
- radio spots
- newspaper ads
- establishing sports activities to displace drug and alcohol use
- establishing youth group identities to support healthy choices
- lobbying government
- changing road signage
