YouthWise is a state accredited prevention program that is a local nonprofit organization created to provide prevention and diversion services to youth in the Northern Black Hills.  Research has revealed that for every $1 spent on prevention activities, society saves $8 that would have been spent for treatment, incarceration or social programs.  YouthWise is school-based and implements evidence-based curriculum to help our youth develop strength of character and self esteem to make choices which are in their own best interest and to avoid use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. 

YouthWise provides classroom education on alcohol, tobacco, drug abuse and dependence that complements the South Dakota Department of Education core areas in health, language arts and science, all of the curriculum used by YouthWise builds social skills and is researched-based.  YouthWise provides technical support to the schools of Spearfish and Lead-Deadwood in the areas of Safe and Drug Free Schools providing staffing and programming support  for after school programs, TATU, Peer Leaders, IMPROV, Social Norming, 2 Smart 2 Start, Mentoring groups, Character Education, Red Ribbon Week, special programs and presentations.

YouthWise offers Support Groups for on-going abstinence and relapse prevention, additionally students can be referred with parental permission for individual assistance on alcohol, tobacco and other drug related issues.     

YouthWise provides community referrals to other resources that support youth and their families in making healthy choices. 

Funding

Funding is provided by the South Dakota Division of Human Services, Division of Drug and Alcohol.  Funding is mostly federal Highway Safety money.  YouthWise has a contract for services with the state to provide evidence based, researched classroom curriculum to reduce the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drug use.  Since the fall of 2006, students in Lead-Deadwood and Spearfish are reporting up to a 30 point decrease in use of alcohol and other drugs as measured by last years tri-ethnic student survey and this years Most of Us student survey. 

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