SAVING EDDIE Imagine that you are a 15-year old African-American young man and you live with your mother. You have never been a great athlete, and school has always been hard for you. The schools you’ve attended have never had programs for special needs, and you know you have them. You have mostly been ignored by teachers and peers alike. So you drop out of high school and start hanging out on the streets of East Point. You score some drugs -- maybe given to you free. You feel better immediately; but then pretty soon you feel bad again, maybe worse. To get money to buy drugs (no more ”freebies”), you start selling drugs… sell, use, sell, use, sell, use. Then you meet a girl, and, after a while, she becomes pregnant; and you have a daughter; but you don’t take any interest because drugs are your interest. Then you have another daughter; and you still don’t care; except you wonder why you have to support them – you need the money for yourself and your habit! Around you, you watch your friends start dying or going to prison; and you’re just waiting your turn. Life is totally bleak. This is the actual story of Eddie. But unfortunately, it is a story repeated again and again in our city. Often it has a very bad end, but thankfully, not always. Eddie has changed! One day, he walked into Village Keepers, a service provider with whom ACM partners in South Fulton County to say he was ‘tired’ of his life and wanted help. He began to receive Village Keepers’ services. He signed up to work on his GED. He started to come to meetings, to go on field trips, to read substance abuse literature. Staff and peers paid attention to him. He quit selling drugs; then he quit using drugs. He looked for and got a job and was hired. He started paying attention to his children. In fact, he now mentors other youth too. He recently said, “Today, I just want to be a role model for my daughters so they don’t take the road I took.” Thankfully, he is on an upward path. Substance abuse and its prevention are big issues for all of Atlanta and a HUGE issue for under-served communities like East Point and South Fulton County. Some months ago, various East Point agencies began to create a coalition in this part of our city to mobilize all of South Fulton toward reducing substance abuse among “Eddies” over the next 10-15 years. It turns out that no coalition like this has ever existed there. By doing this, we are also wading in some very challenging and turbulent waters. But already, some gratifying progress has been made both in multi-sector coalition building and also in recruiting the faith community for this long term effort. There is even the possibility of a major government grant for the coalition. But whether that grant is given or not, these agencies are in it for the long haul. Will you help? This coalition now has representatives from all 12 major community sectors: government, faith community, media, police, education, business, etc. Won't you join us in taking our community back? » Click here to learn how you can get involved.