ThinkFirst of the Ark-La-Tex, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing brain and spinal cord injuries through education, has been awarded a $120,000 grant from the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission. The grant will fund 75 traffic safety education programs for young drivers to prevent brain, spinal cord and other traumatic injuries as the result of motor vehicle crashes.
The grant is part of the commission’s 2023 Fatal and Injury Crash Reduction Effort, with the primary objective to reduce fatal and injury crashes on Louisiana roadways.
“Getting this grant from LHSC not only allows us the opportunity to save and change lives here in Caddo and Bossier parishes, but also to reach others in parishes throughout the state of Louisiana,” said Ronald “Bubba” Fletcher, ThinkFirst executive director.
The grant’s target audience is drivers aged 15 to 24 years old within Avoyelles, Bossier, Caddo, Claiborne, Concordia, DeSoto, Natchitoches, Ouachita, Rapides, Vernon and Webster parishes.
Overall goals are increasing program participants’ knowledge of Louisiana’s DWI laws and the dangers associated with impaired driving, increasing seat belt usage and reducing the number of fatal and serious injury crashes.
Specific targets include increasing program participants’ knowledge of Louisiana’s DWI laws by 25 percent, increasing program participants’ awareness of the dangers and consequences associated with alcohol-impaired driving by 100 percent and increasing program participants’ knowledge and positive attitudes regarding proper seat belt use by 100 percent by Sept. 30, 2023.
ThinkFirst programs feature a VIP – Voice for Injury Prevention – who speaks from experience about the potential consequences of poor decisions.
“This grant allows our VIP speakers the opportunity to share their traumatic stories with others so that something good comes from their suffering through the choices that they made or someone else made, impacting so many lives in our community and state,” Fletcher said.
For information about scheduling a ThinkFirst presentation, call 318-226-0066 or email [email protected].