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Clearfield-Jefferson Coalition receives $125,000 grant
Saturday, September 01, 2012
WASHINGTON - Gil Kerlik-owske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, has announced $7.9 million in new Drug-Free Communities Support Program grants to 60 communities and six new DFC Mentoring grants across the country. The awards are in addition to the nearly $76.7 million in Continuation grants simultaneously released to 608 currently funded DFC coalitions and 18 DFC Mentoring Continuation coalitions. Clearfield-Jefferson Drug Free Communities Coa-lition was one of the grant recipients, and will receive $125,000 in DFC grant funds to involve and engage its community to prevent substance use among youth.
The DFC Program provides grants of up to $625,000 over five years to community coalitions that facilitate citizen participation in local drug prevention efforts. Coalitions are composed of community leaders, parents, youth, teachers, religious and fraternal organizations, health care and business professionals, law enforcement, the media, and others working together at the local level.
"America's success in the 21st century depends in part on our ability to help young people make decisions that will keep them healthy and safe," said Kerlikowske. "We congratulate this coalition on its work to raise a generation of young people equipped to remain drug free and ready to prosper in school, in their communities and in the workplace. While law enforcement efforts will always serve a vital role in keeping our communities safe, we know that stopping drug use before it ever begins is always the smartest and most cost-effective way to reduce drug use and its consequences."
"Efforts to keep our youth drug-free are critical to healthy and safe communities here in Clearfield and Jefferson counties," said Malissa Martino, Clearfield-Jefferson Drug Free Communities Coalition coordinator. "The Drug-Free Communi-ties Support Program recognizes the great potential of the Clearfield-Jefferson Drug Free Communities Coalition to help save young people's lives. This new funding will allow the Clearfield-Jefferson Drug Free Communities Coalition to mobilize and organize their community to prevent youth substance use."
"The driving forces of substance abuse prevention are the local community prevention and treatment programs that engage youth and their families in every facet of their lives - home, school, places of worship, health care settings, playgrounds and community centers," said SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde. "SAMHSA is pleased to work with the Office of National Drug Control Policy to support community coalitions, which effectively bring people together from all parts of the community, to develop innovative ways of creating healthy and drug-free environments for our young people."
The Clearfield-Jefferson Drug Free Communities Coalition will specifically work to address youth alcohol and tobacco use in Clearfield and Jefferson counties. Anyone wishing to join the coalition can do so by contacting Martino at 371-9002 for a meeting schedule.
The DFC Program was created by the Drug-Free Communi-ties Act of 1997, and reauthorized by Congress in 2001 and 2006. Since 1998, ONDCP has awarded more than 2,000 Drug-Free Communities grants to local communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, Palau, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.
In April, President Barack Obama released the 2012 National Drug Control Strategy, the Administration's primary blueprint for drug policy in the United States. The new Strategy promotes a "third way" approach to drug policy that supports alternatives to a law-enforcement-centric "war on drugs" or drug legalization. The Strategy also outlines specific actions to be undertaken by the federal government to reform U.S. drug policy through innovative and evidence-based public health and safety approaches, which include expanding access to drug treatment and recovery support programs, breaking the cycle of drug use, crime and incarceration, and supporting youth outreach programs that prevent drug use before it begins.
The rate of overall drug use in the United States has declined by roughly 30 percent since 1979. To build on this progress and support public health approaches to drug control, the Obama administration has requested more than $10 billion in fiscal year 2013 for drug prevention programs and support for expanding access to drug treatment for people suffering from substance use disorders. This will build upon the $30 billion already spent over the past three years on drug use prevention and treatment.
For more information about the Office of National Drug Control Policy or the Drug Free Communities Support Program, go to www.WhiteHouse.gov/ONDCP.
For more information on the Clearfield-Jefferson Drug Free Communities Coalition, contact Martino at 371-9002 or visit the coalition on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CJDFCC.
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