D.A.R.E. attempts to teach students what being grown up really means - resisting peer pressure, making decisions, and learning to cope with life's problems in positive ways. D.A.R.E. began in 1983 in Los Angels. It began as a joint effort between the Los Angels Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District. Educators and Police created the curriculum. DARE offers preventive strategies to enhance those protective factors which foster development of the resiliency in young kids at risk.
Kids are resilient.
They can bounce back despite adverse conditions, given the proper push. DARE focuses on the development of social competence, communications skills, self-esteem, empathy, decision making, conflict resolution, sense of purpose and independence and positive alternative activities to drug abuse and other destructive behavior. DARE is now being taught in all 50 states, Australia, New Zealand, America Samoa, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Canada, Philippines, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Mexico, Brazil, and the Dept. of Defense. A unique feature of D.A.R.E. is the use of Law Enforcement officers as instructors. D.A.R.E. officers receive intensive training to enable them to effectively teach in the classroom.