DKNY Jeans and Youth Anti-Drug Campaign partner for celebrity calendar

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Teenage girls across the country will find out what their favorite male celebrities choose over drugs when the 2003 DKNY Jeans/What's Your Anti-Drug? celebrity calendar debuts in the December/January issue of CosmoGIRL! Magazine. The calendar was produced by DKNY Jeans in partnership with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. Designed by Donna Karan's creative team and photographed by famed photographer Herb Ritts, the 28-page, 14-month calendar includes a different celebrity for each month, along with his "Anti-Drug." The 14 celebrities featured in the calendar include Enrique Iglesias, Paul Walker, Jay Hernandez, Matt Davis, Alex Band, Sean Maguire, Brendan Fehr, Jonathan Jackson, Ethan Browne, Rick Yune, Quddus, Billy Kay, Jared Padalecki, and Wentworth Miller. The Director of National Drug Control Policy, John P. Walters, said, "Our partnership with DKNY Jeans is a great example of how the public and private sectors can work together to find innovative ways to reach young people and empower them to reject illicit drugs. Herb Ritts and DKNY have lent their time and creative talent to help prevent youth drug use, and we encourage others to follow their lead." "What's Your Anti-Drug?" is a national movement that encourages kids to embrace their passion - to find the thing that inspires, excites and energizes them, and which they choose to do instead of drugs. Singing, friends and sports are all Anti-Drugs - there are millions of possibilities and no wrong answers. Hundreds of thousands of kids across the country have shared their Anti-Drugs with the Media Campaign, as have celebrities ranging from Christina Aguilera to Olympic Gold Medalist Apolo Ohno. "We need to keep our kids safe and drug free," said Donna Karan, Chief Designer of Donna Karan International. "I can't think of a better way to do that than to show them how great drug free entertainment can be. These kids are our future, and this is an opportunity to really make a difference in their lives." During the second week of November, 750,000 CosmoGIRL! subscribers will receive the calendar in the mail, with hundreds of thousands more being available on newsstands in New York, California and Florida. The calendar will also be available as a free download on Freevibe.com, the Media Campaign's pop culture Web site for teens and tweens. Throughout 2003 Freevibe.com and Cosmogirl.com will feature highlights from the calendar, as well as other special features. Elements on the sites will include behind the scenes interviews, video clips and downloadable screensavers. The DKNY Jeans partnership is part of a broader effort launched by the Media Campaign to enlist corporate America in youth drug prevention. Businesses are encouraged to provide in-kind donations of goods and communications services and financial contributions to underwrite advertising, programs and materials. Through collaborations with businesses, the Media Campaign is reaching more youth and parents with Anti-Drug messages and information in more places, more often, and more persuasively. Donna Karan International is one of the world's leading fashion design houses. The Company designs, markets and distributes "designer" and "bridge" collections of women's and men's apparel and sportswear, accessories and shoes under the Donna Karan New York and DKNY brand names, respectively. The DKNY Jeans and DKNY Jeans Juniors divisions are licensed categories for Donna Karan International that fall under the DKNY family of products. In 1998, with the bipartisan support of Congress and the President, ONDCP created the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, an effort designed to educate and empower youth to reject illicit drugs. Counting on an unprecedented blend of public and private partnerships, non-profit community service organizations, volunteerism, and youth-to-youth communications, the Campaign is designed to reach Americans of diverse backgrounds with Anti-Drug information and resources. For more information and to download photographs, please visit www.mediacampaign.org/newsroom/index.html
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North Adams School, Finance Committee Endorse $22M School Budget

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Finance Committee on Wednesday recommended a fiscal 2027 spending plan of $22 million that had been approved by the School Committee on Tuesday. 
 
The spending plan of $22,393,775 is an increase of $757,554 over this year, or 3.5 percent. It will be funded through the Chapter 70 state education grant estimated at $16,796,682 (based on the governor's budget); school-choice funds of $1,446,419, up $506,411; and local funding of $4,150,673 (also based on the governor's budget), up $161,942 or 4.06 percent.
 
Based on new numbers from the House and Senate, the city's portion could drop to $4,049, 353.
 
"A lot of our advocacy this year is around Chapter 70 and the various funding formulas," said Superintendent Timothy Callahan during the public hearing preceding the committee meeting. "We as a School Committee, but certainly I as an individual and other members of the administrative team, have participated in various sessions to advocate for more funding from Chapter 70, a massive part of our district budget."
 
Chapter 70 is critical to the school budget, with nearly 80 percent of its funding coming through the state. 
 
Director of School Finance and Operations Nancy Rauscher explained to the Finance Committee that the schools have "hugely benefited from that over the last few years, with significant increases" based on the district's needs and community profile.
 
"This is the first year that we've been considered a minimum aid district," she said. "What that means is you're held harmless. You're still getting what you were given ... but the addition is just a minimum eight addition. This year, it's $75, per student. So it literally is 75 times the number of students, and at that time it was 1,192 students, when they did this."
 
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