The Central Virginia Addition and Recovery Resources (CVARR) proposes to utilize Drug Free
Communities (DFC) funding to work with leaders in the Lynchburg community to identify and
address local youth substance use problems and create sustainable community-level change in
reducing youth substance use through the use of the Seven Strategies for Community Level
Change. This project will impact youth under age 18 residing in the City of Lynchburg. There
are currently 8,286 total students enrolled in Lynchburg City Schools (LCS), including 2,754
Caucasian students, 4,088 African American students, 148 Asian students, 33 American Indian
students, 523 Hispanic students, and 734 students of two or more races CVARR will specifically
target youth alcohol and prescription drug use. The majority of DFC activities will impact LCS
high school students (approximate total of 2,436 students).
Program goals include: 1) increasing community collaboration; and 2) reduce youth substance abuse. Objectives include: - Objective 1.1: Increase knowledge and understanding of Lynchburg youth substance use by refining LCS’s YRBS to include at least 13 additional questions (expanding from currently capturing three core measures to capturing all 16 core measures), increasing the number of grades surveyed from three to four, and increasing the rate of administration from every three years to every two years by October 30, 2020. - Objective 1.2: Position CVARR for success by hiring one Program Coordinator to oversee DFC activities; holding coalition meetings at least 12 times per year; recruiting at least five new members (thus increasing total membership from 25 to 30); and ensuring at least two coalition members are CADCA-trained by October 30, 2020. – Objective 2.1: Reduce youth’s reported 30-day alcohol use by 5% for 12th grade students (47% to 42%) and by 3% for 9th grade students (25% to 22%), according to 2015 YRBS1 results compared to 2020 YRBS results. - Objective 2.2: Reduce high school youth’s reported lifetime prescription drug use by 2% for 12th grade students (4% to 2%) and by 3% for 9th grade students (9% to 6%), according to 2018 YRBS2 results compared to 2020 YRBS results. Strategies include, but are not limited to, refining and enhancing existing YRBS assessment to capture all core measures; expanding and formalizing CVARR membership; staff, coalition member, and community member training in the Strategic Prevention Framework and other prevention-focused approaches; providing information to youth and the wider community via Community Conversations that engage the community in understanding and discussing current issues and prevention strategies and targeted prevention messaging, including public service announcements (PSAs) within the school systems; prevention-focused events within the schools, such as After Prom and Red Ribbon Week; and collaboration
with the police department and other stakeholders to enhance the barriers and increase consequences surrounding substance use. We anticipate impacting at least 4,872 youth and their families over this five-year project
(approximately 2,436 youth per year).