Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
The purpose of this continuation grant is to support the efforts of the Project Alliance coalition to strengthen and continue to build community-level collaboration and to take action to reduce youth substance use. Project Alliance stakeholders will work in collaboration with other community partners, following a process that utilizes the Strategic Prevention Framework, to develop and implement evidence-based strategies and to integrate cultural competence through each step of planning and implementation. Project Alliance’s proposed program will continue its work to sustain and improve effective community level change, with a focus on at-risk and under-served youth, ages 12-18. Project Alliance will identify and implement data-driven substance-use prevention strategies aimed at reducing or eliminating risk factors and promoting protective factors for youth alcohol and marijuana use. Project Alliance is a program of the University of New England’s Coastal Healthy Community Coalition’s (CHCC) which serves the communities of Arundel, Biddeford, Buxton, Dayton, Hollis, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Old Orchard Beach, and Saco, located in Maine’s southern-most county, York. York County shares a border with Maine’s Cumberland County to the north and New Hampshire to the west and south. The area is located approximately 15 miles south of Maine’s largest urban center, Portland, and includes former mill towns, rural farmland, and coastal communities. Biddeford and Saco are former mill towns working to recover from the loss of manufacturing jobs, which were at one time the major economic drivers in the area. There currently is a strong movement to revitalize both town centers and to improve the quality of life through redevelopment. Orchard Beach is a small community that sees an eight-fold population increase during the summer season, and faces many difficulties related to poverty and employment as most jobs are low paying and seasonal. Kennebunk and Kennebunkport are also communities with a seasonal population that is much greater than the off-season population. Arundel is a small rural community, wedged between Biddeford and Kennebunk. Buxton, Hollis, and Dayton are small rural communities on the outskirts of our service area, with strong levels of involvement, especially at their schools where staff and parents are committed to creating a healthy environment for their children. Project Alliance’s service area has a population of approximately 81,000 people, according to the 2010 US Census. The following statistics document the demographics and aspects of diversity in our service area, the race/ethnicity is predominately white, (96.6%). The median age is 44.0 years. The population is 48.8% male and 51.2% female. The percent of individuals living below the poverty level varies drastically between communities, from 3.4% in Kennebunk to 12.8% in Biddeford (compared to the county average of 9.5%). In 2015, 44.56% of children living in our service area were eligible for the free or reduced school lunch program. Additionally, 4% of school-aged students speak a language other than English at home, 20% of those families are Spanish speaking with 3.3% speaking other languages. According to the 2019 Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey (MIYHS), 12% of high school students in York County (grades 9-12) report identifying as gay/lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and not sure.
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).
