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The Director

The Director of the "Native Ways to Prevention" program, Vicente de la Garza holds an MS and MPH (Master in Public Health). With 20 years experience in medical and alcohol/drug treatment programs, he is experienced in all phases of substance abuse and treatment prevention.

Mr. de la Garza began his career as a medical care administrator and a health care scientist. He became challenged to take his medical research skills into education, and has applied those skills to curriculum development for the Indian education and multi-cultural divisions of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL). Subsequently, he established a comprehensive alcohol program in Nome, Alaska. Mr. de la Garza also established a Denver-based practice for chemically addicted physicians and commercial airline pilots. In Portland, Oregon, he conducted research on methadone treatment for heroin addicts.

Following extensive research into Native substance abuse and violence, Mr. de la Garza, supported by other Native professionals, developed and field implemented his Indian drug prevention curriculum which has evolved into a new and successful approach that directly incorporates Native value systems and motivational triggers. Thus became the "Native Ways to Prevention" program and its complement, "Save the Child/Save the Teenager™" program, both of which are being implemented in multiple Native communities across the United States and Canada.

Mr. de la Garza has a trained and seasoned staff of professionals on call and eager to support this cause and your needs. Please call him at 1-800-458-8071 and he will personally work with you to develop a training schedule and curriculum that will make a difference in your community.

Our Mission

• To equip schools serving Native children with systems and skills to prevent their students from all intoxicant use, violence, and gang membership.

• Educate and equip an army of "preventionists" who will help their school and community become violence and drug-free.

• Improve Native youth graduation rates by helping schools remove counter-culture barriers and friction relationships between school staff and students.

• Provide school staff training on methods to capitalize on Native Learning Strengths to greatly improve vocabulary, reading, math and science achievement levels.

• Equip schools with highly-trained student teams to change the popularity of drugs, to take pride in never starting.

• Orient community leaders on the great human and financial savings of real prevention.

• Introduce prevention systems of little or no cost that bring about a community-wide embrace of prevention - Native ways.

Key Training Personnel

Vicente de la Garza, “V”

The Director of Save the Child/Save the Teenager, Vicente de la Garza holds an MA and a MPH (Master in Public Health).

He began his career as a medical care administrator, then epidemiologist (health care scientist).  His path included establishing a comprehensive alcohol program in Nome, Alaska, followed by a Denver specialty practice for chemically addicted physicians and commercial airline pilots.  In Portland, Oregon, he next carried out research on methadone treatment for heroin addicts.

Mr. de la Garza then became challenged to take his medical research skills into education.  These skills were applied to curriculum development for the multicultural divisions of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL), an education think tank and materials development agency.

Terry Abel

M.A., experienced High School Principal, Strategic Planning Facilitator and Teacher Trainer.

Richard Mitchell

 M.S. Safety Systems Specialist.