In 1999, a series of drug and alcohol-related deaths forced the community to face the fact that southern Berkshire County had a serious heroin problem. Fed up with attending friends’ funerals, Amanda Root, a 19-year-old high school dropout, began attending meetings of concerned citizens who called themselves the Heroin Task Force and Prevention Council. The group of parents, police officers, business people and other community leaders met to figure out what to do about the problem that had been lurking in their community for far too long. They came up with a long list of goals to help to curb the problem and prevent it from getting any worse. Before long, the Railroad Street Youth Project had been created to face youth problems head-on. Amanda soon secured a small office space on Railroad Street and was working hard to create projects and performances that involved the community. Today, RSYP is a fully formed non-profit organization, still working to help young people do the things they want to do. It is run by a staff of young people with the help of an executive board and a youth operational board. The executive board is a group of adults and young people selected for their honest concern about the youth of their community and their knowledge of how to get things done. The youth operational board meets on a weekly basis and votes on which projects are approved.

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