1.30.2003 ET

(CSRwire) NORTHBROOK, IL - The Allstate Foundation is organizing interactive youth workshops on law enforcement-teen communication, preventing hate crimes, and understanding diversity. The workshops are part of the National Crime Prevention Council's 2003 National Youth Summit on Preventing Violence. The National Youth Summit takes place February 15th-18th in Anaheim, California. The summit is expected to bring 800 youth from around the country to Southern California. Teens will be learning, sharing their experiences, and building solution-oriented action plans to bring back to their communities.

"These workshops will be a tremendous sounding board of youth opinion and feelings from around the country," said The Allstate Foundation's Executive Director Jan Epstein. "Empowering youth to make their communities and schools safer is one of the most effective ways to help build safe and vital communities. Helping foster safe and vital communities is one of The Allstate Foundation's primary objectives."

The workshops ...
How would you react if approached by the police? "The Law and You" is a 90-minute program conducted in cooperation with local law enforcement professionals to encourage appropriate interaction between teenagers and police. The session includes video and open discussion between teens and law enforcement, emphasizing proper and effective communication between both youth and the police. In this session, both law enforcement officials and teens have the opportunity to teach each other.

"Exploring Diversity: Valuing Self and Others" is a highly interactive three hour mega-session where teens learn how people differ and why diversity is something of value. They will explore the factors that create prejudice, clarify the distinction between noticing differences and developing bias attitudes, and the importance of individual identity. They will learn strategies for managing their behaviors in order to promote inclusion and leverage diversity. Through activities and exercises, they will get in touch with personal feelings, experience difference perspectives, and learn how to leverage diversity.

Devastating Consequences: The Real Story behind Hate Crimes is conducted in cooperation with the Organization of Chinese Americans. The workshop will break down the issues surrounding hate crimes and their impact on the community. We will provide the youth participants with valuable information about how to prevent these crimes and how to act in the event they are witness to one. Teens participating in the workshop will share their feelings on hate and how they feel it impacts them.

The National Youth Summit on Preventing Violence is a four-day event that combines hands-on learning with action. It is an opportunity to mobilize our nation's youth and involve them in changing the negative perception about youth and crime. Summit programs teach young people how to create change and have them act on their knowledge while still at the Summit. Participants will attend training sessions, an off-site educational field trip, and voice their ideas for reducing crime and violence through roundtable discussions. McGruff Ambassadors representing each state will compile these ideas and present policy recommendations at the culmination of the Youth United for a Stronger America March and Rally, which closes the summit.

"Upon returning to their communities, participants will be challenged to use the new skills they learned at the Summit. The Summit engages participants at several levels mentally through education, emotionally through passion for the issue, and physically through the march and the off-site mega-sessions," said National Crime Prevention Council Vice-President Jim Copple.

The Allstate Foundation is an independent, charitable organization made possible by the Allstate Corporation. The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) is the nation's largest publicly held personal lines insurer. Widely known through the "You're In Good Hands With Allstate(R)" slogan, Allstate provides insurance and financial investment products to more than 16 million households and has approximately 12,500 exclusive agents and financial specialists in the U.S. and Canada. Allstate and The Allstate Foundation sponsor community initiatives to promote "safe and vital communities"; "tolerance, inclusion, and diversity"; and "economic empowerment." The Allstate Foundation believes in the financial potential of every individual and in helping America's families achieve their American dream.

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