Minnesota Dare

Mission

Minnesota D.A.R.E., Inc. is the governing body of the D.A.R.E. program in Minnesota.  Its purpose is to educate and advocate for the safety and well-being of our Minnesota children through collaboration with law enforcement officers, parents, schools, and community.

 

Programs

The Minnesota D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program instructs over 65,000 students annually. The K-4th Grade visitation program educates children to help keep them safe, protect them from drugs and violence, and teach them to recognize, avoid and report situations that may endanger their safety and personal health. The Elementary School Curriculum is directed toward developing the capacities needed to enable students to take charge of their lives with particular emphasis on substance use and abuse. The Middle School/Junior High School Curriculum helps students choose to live a quality life by developing a deep understanding of the complexities and possibilities of daily life, the nature of the choices to be made, the consequences that come with these choices, and the skills to act and reflect on one's choices. This curriculum focuses on ways to deal with a specific set of problembatic life situations--namely those involving internal and external pressures to use substances and deal effectively with feelings of frustration and anger. The Senior High Curriculum focuses on the everyday situations that high school student's encounter. These lessons emphasize social skills that enable students to act in their own best interest when facing high-risk choices and to handle feelings of anger properly, without causing harm to themselves or others. The D.A.R.E. Special Education curriculum has been designed to serve all areas of disability in all service delivery environments through adapted expectations, curricular materials, and teaching strategies. The D.A.R.E. Parent Program addresses the increasing awareness of the need for comprehensive adult caregiver roles of teacher, counselor, facilitator, and adult role model, the program allows participants to process information about the tasks of parenting. Minnesota D.A.R.E., Inc. also provides additional programming in Bullying/School Violence, Methamphetamine, Perscription Drug Abuse, Addiction/Mental Health Issues, and Take Home Parent Units.