Gary Drug-Free Community Coalition - Gary is situated in Lake County in the northwest corner of Indiana 25 miles and the cities of Hammond and East Chicago form the westernmost border. The easternmost section borders Lake Station and Portage while Gary's southernmost section borders Hobart and Merrillville. The region represents a mix of urban, suburban, and rural cultures with Gary’s identity largely urban blue-collar; known for its large steel industry and associated half (53%) of them live within a five-mile radius of Gary’s city center. There are an estimated 76,677 people living in Gary—a 4% decline over 5 years. Less than 200 residents separate Gary and Hammond as the two largest cities in Lake County. (ACS, 2018.) The racial makeup of the city is 84% African American, 14% White, 1% Native American, 0.5% Asian, and 0.5% Pacific Islander. 7.3% of the population identify as Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 38,244 households out of which 30.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.0% were non-families. (US Census, 2010.) In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Gary had the highest percentage (84%) of African Americans of U.S. cities with a population of 100,000 or more. This no longer applies to Gary since the population of the city has now fallen well below 100,000 residents. As of 2013 and continuing to today, the Gary Department of Redevelopment has estimated that one-third of all homes in the city are unoccupied and/or abandoned. Age groups within Gary are evenly distributed with 27% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 22% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. Females outnumber males 3 to 2. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78 males. The median income for a household in the city was $30,310, and the median income for a family was $37,818. The per capita income for the city was $18,466. Unemployment (5%) had dropped consistently since 2015; however, the recent COVID pandemic has hit our community hard with estimated employment currently at 16%. Chronic economic deprivation has contributed to a 33.5% poverty rate. 27.1% of families are below the poverty line, including 44.4% of those under age 18 and 15.3% of those ages 65 or over. Gary is a rather typical for the Midwest region. It is conservative and traditional in overall mindset. Having lost a good deal of the manufacturing base, the economy is suffering more than other parts of the country. Alcohol is connected to many parts of life – celebrations, festivals, weddings, special events and economic depression – most children are extremely comfortable with its presence from an early age. Besides school and summer sporting events, Gary is near a regional recreational hotspot—the Indiana Dunes National Park. This location is a favorite destination for underage drinking and drug use. High-end vacation resorts exist in its back yard; however, a considerable social, emotional, and economic boundary separates Gary from that world. The goals of the Gary Drug Free Community Coalition are to establish and strengthen community collaboration in support of local efforts to prevent youth substance use. The coalition will achieve its goals by: enhancing coalition leadership skills, promoting positive youth development activities, alcohol, marijuana, and opioid awareness, engaging youth in the development of solutions to substance abuse, developing the substance abuse resistance and refusal skills of youth, promoting, and adopting policies that support substance abuse prevention including marijuana access control, and launching and maintaining an annual prevention media campaign.
