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A Bowie-run substance abuse prevention network could soon be polling the city's youth on their opinions about drugs, alcohol and gang activity with an eye toward developing more effective prevention strategies.

Bowie's Youth and Family Services Department will apply for a $625,000 federal grant that would pay for school-based surveys, youth forums and training for youth mentors from the Bowie Community Prevention Network, a city-sponsored group that is part of the department and works to promote positive development in youth through prevention, interaction and education.

"This is the opportunity to collect information that is specific to the Bowie community," Community Prevention Network coordinator Andra Berry said.

Collecting the data will allow city officials to develop a comprehensive strategy to discourage youth substance use, she said. More than 50 volunteers work in the prevention network, ranging from school employees to local business owners to religious leaders.

The grant from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency would provide the city with $125,000 annually for five years to pay for the data collection and training. The grant is part of the agency's nationwide Drug-Free Communities Support Program, which seeks to build coalitions to identify and respond to local substance use problems.

In the past, Bowie's Youth and Family Services Department used county or nationwide statistics to guide its drug and alcohol prevention programs because statistics specific to Bowie were not available, Berry said. Acquiring city-specific information from parents and high school and middle school students will help the network design prevention programming that is targeted to problems specific to Bowie.

"Instead of going into it blindly [and] saying kids need these activities, we will be able to see what they say they need," Youth and Family Services Department Director Nancy Branch said.

Bowie has a high likelihood of receiving the grant, said Sylvia Quinton, the executive director of the nonprofit Suitland Family and Life Development Corporation, who is mentoring eight groups across the country on the application process.

The Suitland nonprofit received a $500,000 grant in 2003 to complete an action plan for youth substance abuse prevention across the county through its coalition, the Substance Abuse Treatment Education and Prevention Network, which is composed of county youth, community members government representatives. It received a subsequent $625,000 grant that is paying for the implementation of the action plan.

Its goal is to provide youth development and youth engagement opportunities in the community, Quinton said.

A group headed by the Birchwood City-Clearview Community Association in south county also plans to apply for the grant. Approximately 400 organizations are expected to apply for the grant this year, with about 200 expected to receive the grant, Quinton said.

Under the first five years of the grant, Quinton's organization collected data from police, social services and other groups working with at-risk youth to develop community data on substance abuse. It also hosted focus groups with community leaders and organizers of youth groups to draw in anecdotal evidence of abuse problems and used community surveys to understand those problems and target resources.

The organization's action plan recommended more education in the community about healthy living, establishing financial literacy programs, and embracing hip-hop culture for its possible role in education. In its first year implementing the action plan, the group focused on training community groups to use social networking Web sites, such as Facebook, to assist in bridging the communication gap between adults and youth, Quinton said.

At its Dec. 7 meeting, members of the Bowie City Council questioned whether the grant would create jobs the city would later have to fund once the grant ran out. City Manager David Deutsch said the city was not expecting to pay for new positions.

Councilwoman Diane Polangin (Dist. 2) said the grant could go a long way in battling problems among Bowie youth.

"Make no mistake, we do have drug problems in Bowie and we do have gangs in Bowie," she said at the meeting. "We cannot address it without knowing where the problems are coming from."

E-mail Andrea Noble at anoble@gazette.net.