Red Ribbon Certified Schools For the past three years, The Red Ribbon Certified Schools (RRCS) initiative, led by Informed Families/National Family Partnership and Florida State University's Center for Prevention Research, has been federally-funded and designed to assess and then celebrate effective efforts in the prevention of substance use among students. It serves as an assessment and recognition tool that highlights the efforts of schools who work in collaboration with youth, parents, educators, and the community. In addition, it emphasizes the importance of families involved in the education and healthy development of their children where parents are seen as a main ingredient. Currently, efforts are being made to redesign the application process and evaluation format based on the experiences of the the initial phases of the project and expert insight. The next application period will begin in October of 2009. An updated application form is available for interested schools to download so that they may begin to complete it. We encourage you to check back for updates and changes as the process continues.Which schools are certified? For more information and a list of certified schools, please visit: http://www.redribbonschools.org/