$3.8 Million Awarded to Youth Substance-Use Prevention Programs

The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) and the Department of Public Health (DPH) announced $3.8 million in annual grants to 31 youth substance use prevention programs serving communities across the Commonwealth – including programs in Boston and Chelsea.

This is the third Massachusetts Collaborative for Action, Leadership, and Learning (MassCALL3) award under the Substance Misuse Prevention Grant Programs. The grants will be distributed over eight years to support local substance use prevention efforts in communities across the Commonwealth. The program outlines three goals:

•Community engagement and capacity building: To be deployed for communities with limited or no existing capacity and infrastructure to implement a systematic public health planning process and a comprehensive set of evidence-based prevention programs, policies, and practices to prevent youth substance misuse.

•Comprehensive strategy implementation: Communities with existing prevention program capacity and experience will receive additional support to implement a comprehensive set of prevention services directed at youth and focused on substances of first use, such as alcohol, nicotine, and cannabis.

•Innovation and promising practices implementation: Communities that have already implemented a detailed substance misuse plan or adapted an existing approach that has not been formally described in prevention literature will receive expert assistance in examining and disseminating new and emerging practices that have the potential to fill gaps in current prevention scientific evidence.

“The Commonwealth continues to invest in and support evidence-based initiatives that address the very serious issue of substance use among our young people,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “These awards build on the Administration’s commitment to expand pathways to substance use prevention programs at all levels in every area of the state.”

The grant award begins in FY22 and continues through FY29. The program is funded through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) block grant.

Award recipients are:

•Boston Public Health Commission

•City of Chelsea

•Project R.I.G.H.T., Inc. (Boston)

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