Washington, DC - Wednesday, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) announced an initial round of 150 new grants for its Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program.
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. 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 substance use problems.
“In order to create safe and healthy places for the next generation, we must break through to our children now and educate them about the dangers of substance use. The Drug-Free Communities, administered by our office across the United States, are proven prevention programs tailored to do just that by meeting the specific needs in each community. The Trump Administration will continue expanding the number of community-based coalitions dedicated to the critical mission of stopping substance use among our youth before it starts,” ONDCP Director Jim Carroll said.
The 150 grants announced today represent a total Federal investment of $18,749,801 to community coalitions. Additional new FY 2019 DFC grant awards will be announced at a later date.
“Given the DFC Program’s success in reducing past 30-day substance use, ONDCP will be announcing additional grants at a later date. We know community coalitions are relentless in protecting our nation’s youth, and we will be announcing more grants so communities can quickly address the emerging drug threats impacting their youth,” Carroll said.
In June, ONDCP released the 2018 Executive Summary and End-of-Year Report for its DFC grant recipients, which continue to effect reduced youth substances use rates in their communities.