Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
As the largest, nonprofit, integrated rural healthcare system serving Wisconsin, Marshfield Clinic Health System (MCHS), in partnership with community coalitions in five, rural Wisconsin counties-Barron, Forest, Oneida, Portage, and Price—will implement the MCHS - SPF-PFS grant to address underage drinking and promote mental health in those regions. Priority subpopulations to be served include rural, Tribal, and LGBTQ youth. MCHS will capitalize on established relationships with partnering coalitions and utilize the experience of the MCHS Prevention and Recovery (PAR) team to provide capacity building within the coalitions and deliver training and technical support for implementation of evidence-based prevention strategies centered on alcohol usage. MCHS will guide coalitions through the Strategic Prevention Framework model as they conduct community assessments, build capacity, identify/plan strategies, implement evidence-based strategies to reduce underage drinking, and evaluate project success. Building off the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America's (CADCA) Seven Strategies for Creating Effective Community Change, coalitions will align elected strategies with their community needs, incorporating two individual and one environmental strategy each year, beginning in Year 2, over the five-year project. Coalitions will engage in an annual health equity project to promote cultural competency in decision-making and to advance mental health in communities. Support systems for substance misuse and mental health concerns are limited in the target counties, where current alcohol use rates among youth (28%) exceed both the state and national averages (25.4% and 22.7% respectively). Approximately 78% of the combined population of focus, or 139,880 individuals, are considered rural, and face health disparities common to rural populations. This equates to approximately 23,723 school-age youth living in rural areas. The region also includes two federally recognized Tribal nations—Potawatomi and Sokaogon Chippewa—and borders a third, the Ojibwe Chippewa. The LGBTQ youth population, which makes up approximately 3.8% of total youth population, experiences higher numbers of alcohol use and mental health concerns than their straight/cisgender classmates. Project goals include the following: GOAL 1: Strengthen community-level prevention capacity and collaboration among community sectors to address underage drinking. GOAL 2: Decrease underage alcohol usage by implementing evidence-based strategies that address youth risk and protective factors. GOAL 3: Increase the capacity of coalitions to improve health equity, mental health, and well-being among youth. Related objectives include measurable action steps by coalitions, including conducting community assessments, building capacity within their communities to address the issue, producing a 4-year logic model and annual work plans to identify and plan for appropriate strategies implementation, and evaluating the success of those projects. Other objectives reflect risk factor reduction, protective factor promotion, and consumption or behavior of youth. While the project focuses on decreasing youth alcohol usage, universal and community level strategies will be implemented and social norms addressed. As such, the project will impact entire communities, including adults, in addition to the target youth population. Annually, this project is expected to reach up to 179,333 individuals, including the targeted 34,560 youth and their respective families in the five-county region. Over the grant's life, about 896,665 youth and adults will be reached.
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).
