Rock Out With Best Friends and Best Men and Help These Vital Programs Grow!

Rock Out With Best Friends and Best Men and Help These Vital Programs Grow!

Nationwide Program Helps 6000 Students in 14 States, the District
of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands; 2004-2005 Data demonstrates
that Best Friends and Best Men in DC Reported Significantly
Less Sexual Activity, Drug and Alcohol Use Than Their Peers

"Remember when rock was young?" Join the Best Friends Foundation at their annual fundraiser which supports programs which help girls and boys reject risk behavior and achieve academic success. Join Three Dog Night and Sister Sledge (lead singer Kathy Sledge) -- Saturday, March 4 at 6:30pm at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. Special guests include Mayor Anthony Williams, Senator George Allen, Susan Allen, CNN's Wolf Blitzer and DC TV anchors Barbara Harrison, Kathleen Matthews, Lark McCarthy and Andrea Roane.

Students from the Best Friends, Best Men, Diamond Girl Leadership, and Best Men Leadership Programs will feature their rock and roll talents in a special performance. All proceeds from the evening will support the Best Friends Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

*Media must call Best Friends in advance 202.829.0848 and register to cover event. Press credentials required and due to event sell out there is no seating available for the media.

Founded in 1987 by Elayne Bennett, the Best Friends Foundation provides a nationwide network of programs dedicated to physical and emotional well-being of adolescents. This scientifically researched curriculum designed to help middle and high school students develop self-respect through the practice of self-control. The Best Friends program provides adolescent girls 5th-12th grade with the skills, guidance and support to choose abstinence from sex and reject illegal drug and alcohol use. Currently, the program serves nearly 800 girls and 500 boys in 22 DC public schools and 6,000 girls in 14 states in addition to the US Virgin Islands.

America's Boys are in Trouble

These are alarming statistics which portray the crisis facing our young men and support the need for a program such as Best Men.

* Adolescent boys are 15 times more likely to be victims of violent crime.
* Gunshot wounds are the second leading cause of accidental death among 10
to 14-year-old males.
* Adolescent boys are four times more likely to be diagnosed as
emotionally disturbed.
* Our young males comprise 80 percent of drug-addicted and alcoholic
youth.
* Adolescent males are four times more likely to commit suicide.

Best Friends and Best Men are Programs that Work!

Due to the overwhelming demand for a boys' program, Best Men was created in the fall of 2000. Like Best Friends, Best Men is a youth development program with a character-building curriculum, designed to provide positive and healthy answers to the challenges facing boys today. It is now a national program with more than 1,000 participants. In the spirit of true friendship, Best Friends and the Best Men programs provide positive peer groups for adolescents and create an environment which raises aspirations and promotes achievement.

The Best Men program helps boys become men of strong character, worthy of respect, who will be successful, productive members of our society. Here are some results:

* In D.C., the number of Best Men who were members of gangs decreased by
over 50%.
* In Erie, all Best Men who were gang members left the gang.
* Nationally, the number of Best Men boys who were bullied decreased by
10% (from 35% to 25%).
* Nationally, the number of Best Men who said they had not used illegal
drugs was 91% (up from 87%).
* Nationally, the number of Best Men who said they had not used alcohol
was 73% (up from 58%).
* Nationally, 68% of Best Men boys said that abstinence from sex, drugs
and alcohol was the healthiest life choice for them (up from 53%).
* Milwaukee's Best Men demonstrated an 18 point increase in mean math
scores and a 13 point increase in science scores on the Wisconsin
Knowledge & Concepts Exam.

In the past few years, the Best Friends program has been recognized by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, former Secretary of Education Rod Paige, and the D.C. Public Schools. The program carefully measures its effectiveness through an anonymous pre/post survey at the beginning and at the end of each school year. In the April 2005 edition of Adolescent and Family Health, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, Dr. Robert Lerner compared 8th grade Best Friends girls in DC public schools to their peers who participated in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) administered by the Centers for Disease Control. His research indicates that:

* Best Friends girls are 8 times less likely to take drugs.
* Best Friends girls are 2 times less likely to use alcohol.
* Best Friends girls are 6.5 times less likely to engage in sexual
activity.
* Best Friends girls are 2.5 times less likely to smoke.

For more information on the Best Friends or Best Men Programs visit http://www.bestfriendsfoundation.org/.

CONTACT: Crystal Wright of Best Friends Foundation, +1-202-829-0848, or cryswright@hotmail.com

PRNewswire -- March 3

Source: Best Friends Foundation

Web site: http://www.bestfriendsfoundation.org/

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