Martin Luther King Jr. Day was a day of service, not sloth, for youth from the Center's Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) and our high school interns from the Academy of College and Career Exploration (ACCE).  
Along with Community Liaison Katrina Brooks and Charmayne Turner, Community Advisory Board (CAB) member, the youth volunteered in the Park Heights neighborhood, leading art and creative writing activities, taking photographs, and painting walls and trim at St. John Evangelical Church and the Church of the Nativity. The youth reported they had a blast on their school day off, working alongside community and civic leaders to realize Dr. King's dream of diversity, harmony, and unity. Alcoholic companies target youth with magazine ads, a new study co-authored by Center Communications Team Leader David H. Jernigan, PhD, shows. Dr. Jernigan also recently released an article detailing how alcohol excise tax increases save lives, reduce health care costs, create and preserve jobs, and prevent alcohol-related problems. The Center released its report on the Parallel Count of homeless youth in Baltimore City. We found 781 young people (ages 10-24) on January 22, 2009 who were homeless or unstably housed. The Center conducted a similar count in 2007 and found 272 homeless young people in the city. Women binge-drinking like men--is this equality? David H. Jernigan, PhD, was quoted in a story in the Houston Chronicle about a disturbing trend in binge-drinking, which reports that men have not cornered the market in heavy alcohol use. Jernigan was also featured in the latest issue of Johns Hopkins Public Health magazine in an article that questions the validity of lowering the legal drinking age in the U.S. Live fast, die young? Center director Freya Sonenstein weighs in on a new study that says 15 percent of teens believe they will not make it past 35. This link between risky behavior and pessimistic attitude surprises many experts. Tie a tie. Respect a woman. These are just two pieces of advice handed down recently to a group of young men at the "Men II Boys" film and lecture tour, hosted by the Center, the Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence and the Urban Leadership Institute. For more information about the powerful meeting between young men and older mentors, click here. Go to www.mentoboys.com to find out about "Men II Boys" and "101 Things Every Boy of Color Should Know." For a complete list of Center publications, products, and presentations, go to our Google page: http://sites.google.com/site/cahjhsph/ | 
