Brave and Bold* Mission Statement

History

Brave and Bold originated in August, 2011, in response to a parent’s questions regarding what steps parents/guardians should take when they discover their son or daughter has been drinking with friends. Parents, police personnel, and a prevention specialist met with Mr. Evans, Principal of Magruder High School, to discuss the possibility of addressing this concern with a Parent Coffee.

The intent was to provide an opportunity for parents to have an informal discussion with police personnel and other professionals involved in underage alcohol abuse prevention on how to effectively intervene with their adolescents.

There was a consensus that our youth need guidance in making good decisions on other threats to their health and safety, such as bullying (including cyber-bullying and teen dating violence), and abuse of marijuana and prescription drugs.

The possibility of forming a parent mentoring group was also discussed.

Mr. Evans stated that the father of a Magruder student who died in a recent single-vehicle DUI collision and the State’s Attorney for Montgomery County had both expressed an interest in supporting this initiative; they joined the group at the second meeting.

The general consensus of that meeting was that we need to focus our efforts on the parents, so those who are enabling or condoning underage drinking will stop doing so.

(Minutes of both meetings are available from Patty Winters, Brave and Bold Chair, at .)

Mission Statement

Brave and Bold is a community coalition of parents, public servants, school administrators and staff, and prevention specialists. Through community forums and other methods of public outreach, our mission is to increase parent awareness of adolescent decision making as it relates to underage substance abuse and to offer both community-wide and parenting strategies to guide their teens away from harmful behaviors and influences.

We will also work to foster a community spirit in which parents will support each other, students will develop creative solutions to the issues they face, and create a model program for the rest of the State that addresses underage drinking, underage binge drinking and underage drinking and driving.

All members volunteer their time to this coalition.

Patty Winters, Brave and Bold Chair

Revised October 11, 2011

*Brave and Bold was previously called “Courageous Conversations,” the initiative announced by Mr. Evans at Back to School Night.