North River Prevention Partners Drug Free Communities Support Program - Over the past 6 years, the population of the North River area of Manatee County, Florida has grown substantially. As a result of this rapid growth, North River is also showing an accompanying rise in infrastructure constraints. These include lack of affordable housing and limited access to healthcare and school resources resulting in rising substance use among youth. Most alarmingly, these increasing rates of substance use are leading to rising
juvenile crime rates for the region. Over a two-year period, North River saw a 22% increase in juvenile arrests for marijuana and a 50% increase in juvenile possession of alcohol arrests. Increased access, challenging cultural norms, and a lack of perception of harm, are all variables directly impacting the rise in juvenile substance use in North River.
Since 2016, North River Prevention Partners (NRPP) Coalition has successfully impacted youth substance use through volunteer advocacy to change communities policies. Our mission, to "create community partnerships to implement universal substance abuse prevention strategies that promote the health and safety of individuals across the lifespan, especially among youth" reflects members' focus on implementing youth initiatives to prevent and reduce substance abuse.
To drive data-based decision making, NRPP conducted a needs assessment, reviewing state wide surveys and reports, crime and school incident reports, youth treatment admissions, and other data points to acquire the information necessary to inform strategic decision-making. The end results was a 12-month action plan that identified youth alcohol and marijuana use- including vaping as a delivery mechanism- as priority issues that NRPP intends to
address with this funding opportunity.
NRPP intends to implement a comprehensive approach to deal with the priorities identified utilizing the Seven Strategies for Community Level Change, but focused heavily on youth engagement in the process. Over the course the five year period, NRPP will use $125,000 per year to implement strategies identified in the Coalition's plan. The Coalition will match these resources with $125,105 per year in years 2-5 of the grant. With these resources, NRPP seeks to impact the lives of all 26,000 North River residents, and most importantly, its youth.
