Friday, May 9, 2025
5/9/2025
HOPE Coalition Drug Free Communities - Project Abstract Based on the coalitions mission of “healing our people and environment to reduce youth substance misuse” we will focus our prevention efforts on increasing community readiness, building collaborations/partnerships, addressing community norms which promote misuse, increase awareness of potential risks of substance misuse (especially among our female youth), provide attractive substance free activities, address stigma, and support community efforts to enhance reconciliation and healing of historical/generational trauma associated with colonization and colonialism. Identifying and addressing the systemic nature of health disparities at the local, state and national levels is an integral part of our prevention plan and moves our efforts beyond implementing programs, to addressing the dominant culture systems which make prevention programs necessary. We will support reconciliation efforts, address micro-aggressions and provide resources for community members to increase their literacy around this strategy. To this end, we with our local partners and organizations, and continue to develop regional, state and national partnerships. HOPE (Healing Our People and Environment) Coalition’s prevention program will focus on preventing the initiation of substances among middle school youth, as current use is fairly low, with risk of harm and parent disapproval being relatively high. A social norms campaign and alternative/pro-social activities will be center stage for this. High school prevention activities will focus on addressing the misuse trends identified via recent surveys. In particular, we will address alcohol misuse and binge drinking especially among female youth, tobacco misuse (electronic nicotine delivery systems) and marijuana misuse. Our goal will be to reduce 30-day use of our identified substances and 30-day binge drinking, and increase perception of risk of harm and parental/peer disapproval. Our data suggest youth tend to use substances more on weekend nights, especially alcohol. Marijuana and tobacco also tend to be used on weekends but are used at other times as well- a more dispersed use. We will also focus attention on those risk and protective factors which affect youth use. Youth and adults have identified lack of accessible drug free alternative activities as one factor contributing to youth misuse. Additionally, the ongoing impact of colonization and colonialism has been identified as a contributing factor for the second largest demographic population in Sitka. The resultant loss of culture, traditions and rituals increases the impact of adverse childhood experiences in today’s youth and will therefore be another focus of the coalition’s attention and programs. To this end, we will support social-emotional learning strategies in the schools as well as through targeted programs for youth, increase cultural awareness and activities, and focus on those items identified in the final paragraph below. Our prevention program has four main areas of focus, 1. Addressing the “here and now” which means responding to the use/misuse trends identified through local, state and national surveys, utilizing evidenced/practice based programs and practices, addressing community readiness, and implementing the seven strategies for community change; 2. Harm reduction which includes responding to the negative consequences of misuse such as distributing NARCAN kits, supporting a needle exchange programs, improving access to intervention and treatment services/resources; 3. Foundational which includes addressing colonization/colonialism, adverse childhood experiences, historical/generational trauma, and a myriad of microaggressions; 4. Systemic issues such as racism, white privilege, health disparities/equity, and the social determinants of health.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).