The History of the Mendez Foundation

The C. E. Mendez Foundation was established in 1963 by Charles E. Mendez, a Tampa native and businessman, who also founded Redwing Carriers, Inc., a southeast-based trucking company. The Foundation was established to support local charitable organizations whose purpose was to provide opportunities children and families struggling to . Following Mr. Mendez' death in 1967, management of the Mendez Foundation was continued by the family.

In 1975, Charles E. Mendez, Jr., President, concerned with the alarming growth of drug, alcohol and tobacco use by young people sought to address this growing problem. Recognizing that the most effective means of addressing this problem was through education, he refocused the efforts of the Mendez Foundation to develop prevention education programs. The Mendez Foundation's prevention programs would be developed with this philosophy simply stated: that providing children, at an appropriate age, factual information about drugs, alcohol and tobacco, delivered by professional educators who are positive role models, will inevitably result in better decision-making by our children.

In 1979 the Mendez Foundation's philosophy was put into action when the first Sixth Grade Me-ology classes were taught in the Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa. Mendez Foundation Prevention Specialists have been teaching classes in Hillsborough County Public Schools ever since.The successful implementation of these programs gained national recognition in the early eighties as school systems from all over the country were eager to introduce drug prevention into their classrooms. In response, the Foundation began distributing and selling the curricula.

Since the program's beginnings in sixth grade, grades seven and eight as well as the High School Level Curriculum of Too Good for Drugs have been implemented.

In 2003 and 2004 the Too Good for Drugs and Too Good for Violence programs earned Model Program status from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) from the US Department of Education.

The Mendez Foundation's staff of professional educators have taken these simple concepts and created some off the most effective drug and violence prevention education programs, Too Good for Drugs™ and Too Good for Violence, currently used by over 3,500 school districts throughout the U.S.

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