The Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program, created by the Drug-Free Communities Act of 1997, is the Nation’s leading effort to mobilize communities to prevent youth substance use. Directed by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the DFC Program provides grants to community coalitions to strengthen the infrastructure among local partners to create and sustain a reduction in local youth substance use. The Workgroup for Positive Youth Development will receive $625k in DFC grant funds to involve and continue to engage their local community to prevent substance use among youth. This DFC-funding will help our community coalition (+PYD) expand their work from the past 5 years and continue to make progress toward achieving the goal of preventing and reducing youth substance use. They will strengthen community collaboration by increasing a diverse membership through education and shared leadership, all while using a data driven process. The coalition will achieve its goals by continually assessing and implementing evidence-based strategies. Responsible Beverage Service and Liquor Compliance Checks, Adult and Youth Communication Campaigns, and Youth Prevention Education in schools have proven to work for community wide change.
The DFC Program provides grants of up to $625,000 over five years to community coalitions that facilitate youth and adult participation at the community level in local youth drug use prevention efforts. Recognizing that local problems need local solutions, DFC-funded coalitions engage multiple sectors of the community and employ a variety of environmental strategies to address local drug problems. Coalitions are comprised of community leaders representing twelve sectors that organize to meet the local prevention needs of the youth and families in their communities. The DFC Program has been shown to be effective since the beginning. There has been a significant decline among middle school and high school aged youth with the past 30-day prevalence of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and prescription drug use in DFC-funded communities. Prevention is a powerful tool to counteract drug use in our community, and we will use this funding to help youth in Oak Park and River Forest to make healthy choices about substance use.
Face- It (Families Acting Collaboratively to Educate and Involve Teens) is a family- oriented program ideal for families dealing with issues around alcohol and or substance abuse- designed as a prevention and early intervention program with evidence based positive results. This program fosters and encourages things such as; goal setting, communication, healthy relationships, and explores the negative impact of underage drinking and substance use. In its tenth year it has proved to be a helpful resource to the community and families alike. Focused on not only education, but communication- Face- It opens doors for youth and adults to have those difficult conversations and work through many of the challenges that face today’s families. For more information visit our website at; http://oakparktownship.org/preventionservices or call; 708.358.8005, ext. 125
