Thursday, January 2, 2025
1/2/2025
The Walton County Prevention Coalition was awarded a FY 2019 Drug-Free Communities Support Program grant in the amount of $ 125,000 by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, in cooperation with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The Coalition serves Walton County, Florida, a community of 71,375. The goals of the coalition are to establish and strengthen community collaboration in support of local efforts to prevent youth substance use, and reduce substance abuse among youth in Walton County, Florida, and, over time, reduce substance abuse among adults by addressing the issues in our community that increase the risk of substance abuse and promoting the factors that minimize the risk of substance abuse. The coalition will achieve its goals by implementing these strategies: (1.) Training key community leaders in effective strategies that build support for changing the community conditions to prevent youth drug use. (2.) Implementing a social norming campaign utilizing media advocacy to prevent youth alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and prescription drug use that targets youth aged 11-17 and their parents with positive social norms messages through local media and social networking. (3.) Promoting safe prescribing and disposal of prescription drugs to reduce youth access to opioids. Historically, South Walton beach towns are more urban and affluent than the rest of the county and are home to the largest industry - Tourism. Each year visitors to South Walton, many “Spring Breakers,” reach roughly 50 times that of the county’s total population. North Walton, being the seat of county government, houses a state correctional facility and boasts generations of farmers and ranchers. In 2018 US Census data estimated that 20.6% of residents were over 65 and 20.8% were under 18 years of age. Among residents, 49.5% identified as female and 84% of the population was White, with 6% of the population Hispanic or Latino, 6% African American, 2% Native American, and 2% small groups of Asian, Islander, or some other race. According to the Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey, the lifetime prevalence rate of multiple types of substances saw spikes among Walton County middle and high school students from 2016 to 2018. Reported lifetime alcohol use had been declining for the 10 years prior to 2018. While cigarette use continues to decline, the significant increase of vaporizer/e-cigarette use is alarming. Of great concern is the 2018 data that reported an increase of youth who have tried a prescription medication without a doctor’s order in their lifetime, coupled with reports from coalition members and local data collected that the opioid epidemic continues to plague both longtime families, as well as increasing issues among those displaced from Hurricane Michael. Our goal is to implement environmental strategies to reduce Walton County youth (11 to 17 years old) past 30-day alcohol use, marijuana use, tobacco use, and prescription drugs use by 3% each, by October 30, 2020, measured by using the 2018 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey compared to 2020 survey results.
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).