David T. Lardier Jr., PhD, LPC, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Individual, Family, and Community Education, Family and Child Studies Program at the University of New Mexico. Dr. Lardier’s research interests focus primarily on youth and community empowerment in under-served communities of color, as well as the mechanisms through which youth can be involved in research and policy change as both activists and actors of social change. Dr. Lardier also examines the development and practice of empowerment-based prevention programs that meet the diverse needs of youth and their communities. Beyond this, Dr. Lardier engages in research that focuses on the fit/lack of fit between diverse youth and educational institutions, adolescent behavior in professional counseling, and family dynamics. Currently, he serves as program evaluator for the Paterson Coalition Against Substance Abuse (P-CASA) a Drug Free Communities (DFC) Grant Program out of Montclair State University. Dr. Lardier also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Adolescent and Family Health.

Robert J. Reid, PhD, is presently a Professor in the Department of Family and Child Studies, College of Education and Human Services, at Montclair State University. His research focuses on the development, coordination, and testing of community-wide prevention initiatives to reduce risk and to promote protective factors associated with various health behaviors, such as adolescent substance abuse, sexual risk, and youth violence. Additionally, he has continually examined the factors that may either enhance or constrain the quality of life for children, families, and communities. Through this decade-long initiative, Dr. Reid has developed and coordinated comprehensive substance abuse and HIV/AIDS prevention services targeting under-served racial and ethnic minority youth in the city of Paterson, New Jersey.

Pauline Garcia-Reid, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Family and Child Studies, College of Education and Human Services, with an affiliate appointment in the Center for Child Advocacy and Policy, College Humanities and Social Sciences, at Montclair State University. Her research interests include youth substance use and violence prevention, social justice and advocacy within a culturally-grounded social work lens, and practice and research with racial and ethnic minority children and families. She has also served as a technical advisor to the SAMHSA National Registry of Effective Prevention Programs Project (NREPP).

Andriana Herrera holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health from Montclair State University, with a concentration in community health. In her current role as Program Manager, Ms. Herrera oversees two federally funded prevention-intervention grants—one through the Drug Free Communities (DFC) Grant Program and the other through the Minority Aids Initiative (MAI) Grant Program. These federal grants are aimed at helping prevent drug and alcohol (ab)use, as well as providing intervention services that focus on safe sex behavior, HIV and VH testing behavior, and knowledge about HIV/AIDS, substance (ab)use, and VH among youth (ages 13 to 17) and young adults (ages 18 to 24) in Paterson, New Jersey.