DEPARTMENT GETS FAMILY TIES GRANT

Southeast Missouri State University's health and leisure department has received a three-year $187,500 "Family Ties" grant.

The grant, which takes effect immediately, will provide after-school activities for Sikeston youths, ages 8 to 18, at the Home Missouri Outreach Center in Sikeston.

The Missouri Department of Mental Health, Division of Alcohol and Other Drugs awarded the grant with the stipulation that the Citizen Home Mission Outreach Center assume an increasing share of the funding each year.

The grant-funded program is expected to serve about 250 youths and their parents. The goal is to get parents to attend many of their children's activities outside of the home.

"We want parents to roll up their sleeves and get involved," said Dr. Ed Leoni, health and leisure department chairman and one of the authors of the grant proposal.

Activities will include outdoor adventures, computer literacy workshops and sports. Parents of the youths also must be involved in the center's activities.

Leoni said research shows that parents should be involved from the start in the treatment of their troubled children.

Parents also will have an opportunity to participate in workshops and seminars on literacy, stress management, parent effectiveness and substance abuse education.

The substance abuse education workshop will focus on tobacco use, since research shows it often leads to marijuana and cocaine use, Leoni said.