USA - White house drug czar awards $24.4 million to local youth drug prevention programs

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This from the official ONDCP website:

WHITE HOUSE DRUG CZAR AWARDS $24.4 MILLION TO LOCAL YOUTH DRUG PREVENTION PROGRAMS

(Washington, D.C.) - John Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), today announced the award of $24.4 million in Drug Free Communities (DFC) grants to 199 communities across the country. An additional $55 million, released in July, supports the continuation of awards to 568 Drug Free Communities coalitions and 17 DFC Mentor Continuation coalitions. Including the new grantees, the Drug Free Communities Support Program now serves communities in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Palau and the Virgin Islands. Drug Free Community coalitions work collaboratively at the local level to prevent and reduce drug and alcohol abuse among youth.

In addition, 14 new grants totaling nearly $1 million were awarded through the DFC Support Mentoring Program. These funds will help existing DFC grantees to develop more self-supporting community anti-drug coalitions.

Director Walters said, "Youth drug use has dropped 24 percent since 2001, due in large part to the active and effective engagement of strong community anti-drug coalitions. The expertise, time, and talent of those involved with Drug Free Community coalitions helps make the drug problem and the related public health and safety consequences smaller. Our young people are healthier, our communities are safer, and our Nation is stronger because of the work of Drug Free Community coalitions, and we are proud to support their efforts."

"The Drug-Free Communities program helps communities get the hard work of prevention done," said SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline, Ph.D. "By connecting local programs, systems, and funding streams through these new grants, the full force of the community will be brought to bear on preventing drug abuse and promoting healthy, productive lives."

The DFC program provides grants of up to $625,000 over five years to community organizations that facilitate citizen participation in local drug prevention efforts. Coalitions are comprised of community leaders, parents, youth, teachers, religious and fraternal organizations, health care and business professionals, law enforcement, and the media.

The 199 new grantees were selected from 419 applicants through a competitive peer review process. To qualify for matching grants, all awardees must have at least a six-month history of working together on substance abuse reduction initiatives, have representation from twelve specific sectors of the community, develop a long-term plan to reduce substance abuse, and participate in a national evaluation of the DFC program.

Created under the Drug-Free Communities Act of 1997, the Drug-Free Communities Program has earned strong bipartisan support from Congress and is one of President Bush's major funding priorities. In December of 2006, Congress passed and the President signed into law a five-year extension of the Drug-Free Communities Act.

ONDCP administers the DFC program in conjunction with SAMHSA.