Developing Leadership in Reducing Substance Abuse was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) national program to develop a new cadre of substance abuse prevention, treatment and policy leaders who come from diverse professions, points of view and racial and ethnic backgrounds.

From July 2000 to July 2003, 40 people received three-year fellowships during which they designed and executed projects aimed at enhancing the fields of substance abuse prevention, treatment and policy and at developing their leadership capacities.

Well-known leaders in substance abuse, academics, and prevention and treatment served as mentors to fellows, guiding them in their projects and their professional development. See Appendix 1.

Key Results
Judith Schector, M.S.O.D., the program's director reported the following key results:

• Nearly 33 percent of the fellows made significant career moves since beginning the fellowship.
• More than 25 percent of the fellows used a portion of their stipend to further their education. Several completed doctoral programs.
• Fellows created and mobilized community coalitions that prompted changes in policy. For example:
  • Lexington, Ky., passed the state's first ordinance banning smoking in public places.
  • The state of Washington passed legislation prohibiting grocery stores from giving free beer and wine samples.
• Fellows received appointments to task forces and review committees for national-level organizations and institutes such as the Expert Panel at the federal Older Americans Substance Abuse and Mental Health Technical Assistance Center.
  
  See Fellows Profiles for information on six fellows and their projects.

Program Management
RWJF established a national program office at the School of Public Health at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in New Brunswick, N.J., in 1999. When program director John D. Slade, Ph.D., died in January 2002, RWJF first moved the program's management to Schector's offices in Portland, Ore. In 2003, she set up a national program office at the School of Social Work at Portland State University. The office closed in December 2006.

Funding
The RWJF Board of Trustees authorized up to $6 million for the program in April 1998.