St. Lucie County Strategic Prevention Partnership Initiative - Project Abstract
The proposed project, the St. Lucie County Strategic Prevention Initiative (SLC-SPI), will serve the youth and their families in St. Lucie County, Florida, operated by the Roundtable of St. Lucie County (RT) and committed partners. St. Lucie County is located on the East Coast of Florida, 40 miles north of West Palm Beach, with an estimated population of 343,579 residents in the 2022 US Census.1 The County is comprised of two major cities, Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie, as well as other municipalities and unincorporated areas. The St. Lucie County School District serves youth countywide and currently has 45,661 students enrolled in the public schools from PreK through 12th grade with a series of risk factors that can contribute to substance use, mental health challenges, and related consequences. St. Lucie County Schools have a higher rate of economically disadvantaged students than Statewide averages, as well as higher rates of students with a homeless and English Language Learner (ELL) status youth Statewide. Our student population is racially and ethnically diverse with 31.8% of students Black or African American, above Statewide averages, and 34.8% of students are Hispanic. Strategies throughout the action plan directly target local conditions, as well as risk and protective factors communities of color are experiencing to improve equity and reduce disparities that impact substance use.
The purpose of the SLC-SPI is to strengthen the community-level prevention capacity of St. Lucie County to both identify local prevention priorities as well as respond to issues identified by developing and implementing strategies that prevent the misuse of substances and promote mental health and well-being among St Lucie County youth and their families, with an increased focus on our most underserved communities. The Project proposes a comprehensive mix of evidenced-based prevention approaches and services that align with SAMHSA’s expectations to implement high-quality programs, practices, and policies that are recovery-oriented, trauma-informed, and equity-based as a means of improving behavioral health in St. Lucie County.
The opportunity will expand and strengthen the capacity of local community prevention providers to implement evidence-based prevention programs to help reduce the onset and progression of substance misuse and its related problems in St. Lucie County by providing St. Lucie County Strategic Prevention Partnership, under the umbrella of the Roundtable of St. Lucie County, by supporting the development and delivery of community-based substance abuse misuse prevention and mental health promotion services and increase its ability to strengthen collaborations and collectively work with community partners. By utilizing the 5 steps of the Strategic Prevention Framework (assessment, capacity, planning, implementation, and evaluation and incorporating a data-driven approach to implementing evidence-based services to underserved communities, SPF-PFS will enhance the Roundtable’s mission to sustain a team of county and business leaders who mobilize resources to improve the education, health, safety, nutrition, and care of all children in St. Lucie County. Our partner agencies, other organizations and collaboratives, businesses, and community advocates will address root causes that lead to increased risk for youth substance misuse and mental health challenges by implementing norms campaigns, offering Teen Mental Health First Aid, access to Pediatric Integrated Care and providing community-wide trauma-informed care approaches and Functional Family Therapy to underserved communities.
Each year, the project will reach an estimated 200,00 residents per year with universal prevention methods (indirect), 425 St. Lucie County youth and 250 parents/caregivers with universal prevention methods (direct), and 20 youth and their caregivers with Indicated prevention methods.
