The Springfield Area Prevention Coalition and Swanton Area Community Coalition are among a number of Ohio organizations to be awarded funding for a drug free community (DFC).
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy recently awarded more than $2 million in grant funding for DFC programs in the state. In 1997, U.S. Senator Rob Portman authored the Drug-Free Communities Act, which supports evidencebased, community-oriented drug prevention programs.
The act is designed to be optimally effective and accountable by capping the amount spent on administrative and overhead expenses, requiring all coalitions that receive grants to have experience in drug abuse prevention, and matching federal funding with local funds.
No other drug prevention program has achieved the same reductions in youth drug use that has been achieved consistently by the DFC program. In January 2021, the senator introduced the Drug-Free Communities Pandemic Relief Act to provide flexibility to DFC coalitions during COVID-19 by temporarily granting a waiver of the program’s local matching requirements if the grantee is unable to meet them due to the pandemic.
“The Drug-Free Communities program is a proven program that reduces substance abuse among our nation’s youth. I authored this legislation more than 20 years ago during my time in the House of Representatives, and it remains today the most effective program for consistently reducing youth drug use,” the senator said.
“COVID-19 made efforts to combat addiction much more difficult and this additional federal funding for Ohio will make a big difference,” he added.
Recent CDC data showed that there were 107,622 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. last year, the largest number ever recorded in a calendar year.
Andrea Smith, director of the local coalition, said the DFC funding, “in which we are currently in year two of five, is what allowed us to expand and be able to provide more rigorous focused attention to our community and schools.”
“SAPC has been able to directly provide support to each Springfield School to encourage wellness and support positive mental health measures which, in turn, through research we know directly affects the youth substance abuse/use rates.
“We are very proud of the free, family opportunities that we’ve been able to provide to our community,” she added.
She noted that youth suicide rates and domestic violence are at all-time highs.
“That’s what keeps me up at night, and we are so happy we have the capacity to counter these trends in our community.”
She encourages anyone in the community who would like to get involved in the coalition to send an email to SpringfieldCoalition@gmail. com.
