The 2010 Leadership Institute is sponsored by OJJDP and offered by the Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center at PIRE. Leadership Institute Candidate Teams are chosen through a competitive process based on their demonstration of readiness and vision to develop comprehensive community based strategies that combine enforcement, development of Under 21 Law supportive policies and practices, community environmental prevention and media strategies for reducing youth risk behaviors involving alcohol. The Institute focuses on assisting community leaders with strategic assessment, problem definition, goal setting and action planning that combine evidence-based environmental and enforcement strategies.  It also emphasizes the development of leadership process skills, communication skills and innovative thinking paradigms needed for leaders to empower broad-based strategic community engagement. Strong leadership capacity is needed to address the challenges of engaging youth, parents and other adults in supporting the underage drinking laws, sustain a communication infrastructure between law enforcement and prevention initiatives and address the needs that communities have for creating the healthy and safe environments  required for optimal youth development. The Institute is a year-long program of in-person and on-line trainings, guided implementation in the field, conference participation and presentations, and formative evaluation.

The 2010 Class began with a training January 20 to 22nd and will attend the National Leadership Conference in August for additional group training. Site specific trainings are also available to qualified communities at their request.
This year’s Leadership Institute Communities include Mississippi (Statewide Task Force), Jefferson County Illinois, Long Beach New York, Lake County, Ohio, and Chicago (Back of Yards Neighborhood), IL.

Applications for the Class of 2011 will be available October 1, 2010.