International Community Empowerment Project - ICEP

As ASIA's oldest program, the International Community Empowerment Project (ICEP) has been in existence since 1995. The program currently serves approximately 250 children and 125 adults. ICEP is a prevention program funded by the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services (ODADAS). It aims to defer the onset of violence, alcohol, tobacco and other drug (VATOD) use in "at high risk" new immigrant children and youth and their families (many of whom have limited English proficiency) who live in inner city communities in Northeast Ohio. The program also aims to impact environmental risk factors that influence VATOD in these communities.

The program uses a staff of bilingual and bicultural educators who assist students with their schoolwork, and certified prevention specialists from the Akron Health Department who educate the children on the dangers of VATOD and offer them alternative healthy choices. Major activities include:

• An after school program currently serving 67 inner-city students enrolled in grades K-12 in the Akron Public Schools. They represent a diverse mix of backgrounds - Arab, Asian, Central and South American and Eastern European. They come from countries such as: Bosnia, China, Croatia, Ecuador, Former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Kosovo, Laos, Mexico, Palestine, Thailand, Vietnam and Yemen. ICEP is a recipient of the Emergency Immigrant Education Grant and the Refugee Children School Impact Program Grant funded by the Ohio Department of Education as a collaborative project with the Akron Public Schools/English as Second Language ("ESL") Department and the University of Akron to provide additional ESL instruction.
  
  
• Direct prevention instruction and activities include acting out short skits/vignettes, creating tobacco prevention posters, playing prevention jeopardy, training in Ohio Violence Prevention Process ("OVPP"), meeting with officers from the D.A.R.E. program, joining the Boys Scouts and the Girls Scouts programs.

• Empowerment of diverse communities through the allocation of mini-grants to develop culturally relevant programming for their youth and their families. An advisory board was created to assist leaders of the emerging communities to apply for funding in order to develop a program that creates protective assets that benefit their community members. Activities include language classes, prevention education, dance instruction and outreach and collaboration with established community organizations and agencies. Click here to download mini-grant application.

• A collaborative effort in designing the "Drug-Free Heritage Tree" painting has showcased the awareness and prove that children from six different communities share of their heritage and culture. The painting, which was faithfully executed by local artist Rachael Scherer, was unveiled at E.J. Thomas Hall during the Akron Symphony's "Music Around the World" concert, and was displayed at the spring director's meeting of ODADAS in Columbus, Ohio in April of 2000.