Saturday, November 23, 2024
11/23/2024
The NJ Department of Human Services, Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) SPF-PFS project aims to: 1) Decrease youth underage drinking, vaping/use of e-cigarettes, and marijuana use and by youth and young adults ages 12-25 throughout NJ; 2) Increase knowledge about the effects of underage drinking, vaping/use of e-cigarettes, and marijuana use among youth and families throughout NJ; 3) Implement programming that addresses misinformation provided by social media about alcohol and drug use; and 4) Initiate or expand prevention programming for the Underserved Populations identified by each county coalition's needs assessment. DMHAS will fund 15 of its 21 County Prevention Coalitions (not awarded the community SPF-PFS grant) to address alcohol and underage drinking, marijuana and vaping in their respective counties: Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington. Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Passaic, Salem, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren. Participating County Prevention Coalitions will be required to focus a minimum of 60% of project efforts on underserved populations in their county based on a needs assessment. These underserved groups will vary across counties and may include: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning persons, and others (LGBTQ+), persons in poverty, persons living in rural areas, religious minorities, Veterans and military families, NJ tribal nations, Black and Hispanic, etc. The Coalitions will also be required to serve 12-25 year olds and their families, which includes underserved populations. The 2018 New Jersey Household Survey of Drug Use and Health (NJHSDUH) indicated that young adults aged 21-25 (18%) were most at risk for abuse/dependence. An additional 5.8% of 18-20 year-olds were also at risk. More than 90% of adults with SUDs started using before age 18; half of those began before age 15. The earlier a person begins using, the more likely an SUD will develop and continue into adulthood (Lynsky, 2003). These findings highlight the need to improve prevention strategies for the 12-25 old population. DMHAS' SPF-PFS partner, the New Jersey Prevention Network (NJPN) will provide training to the Prevention Coalitions on capacity building and evidence-based curriculum addressing the priorities of this project. Furthermore, DMHAS plans to address the misinformation about alcohol and substance use that is promoted through social media. A toolkit will be developed on this topic. DMHAS will leverage its current risk messaging project with NJPN to develop social media to warn youth and their families of the harms associated with alcohol and drug use. The project will include youth as "influencers". To assess the prevention landscape, the state will use the SPF process to conduct a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and develop a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) in collaboration with key stakeholders such as the NJ Department of Health. The CHNA will identify key substance use prevention needs and issues and be used to develop the CHIP. The CHIP will to be used to address substance use prevention that is a long-term, systematic effort to address public health problems in New Jersey. DMHAS' SPF-PFS project will reach youth and young adults in middle schools, high schools and colleges, as well as young adults not in school. The 12-25 year-old population in NJ is 1,546,950 (2021 US Census); thus NJ's project has the potential to impact more than a million of its young citizens and their families. DMHAS estimates that 1,260,000 of NJ's citizens will be served by the prevention programming and training that will be provided during NJ's five-year project.
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).
