Thursday, May 15, 2025
5/15/2025
Lawrence Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force - The city of Lawrence, Massachusetts, known as “The Immigrant City”, is a densely populated urban community located in the northeast corner of the state. Incorporated in 1853 as one of the first planned industrial cities, Lawrence attracted immigrant mill workers from the farms of New Hampshire. In the 1950s, the trend in immigration shifted to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, which remains the predominant population of the city today. With a recent influx of immigrants from Central America, today, 80.3% of the city population and 91.3% of its public-school population is Hispanic. In addition to being known for its Latino immigrant population, Lawrence is also known for its high rates of poverty, crime and gang violence. More than a quarter (28.4%) of the population lives below the federal poverty line, and 59% of children live in homes receiving some form of public assistance. The 2018 FBI Uniform Crime Report shows Lawrence ranking above state averages in virtually all categories (e.g., 10th in the state for violent crime, 5th for robbery, 8th for aggravated assault, and 3rd for motor vehicle theft). Fueling the high crime rate is a thriving drug trade in the city specifically cited in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s 2018 National Drug Threat Assessment. The city also struggles with many educational, social and health implications that accompany poverty: Lawrence has highest teen birth rate in the state; higher than state average rates of life style-related and income-related chronic health conditions (e.g. Diabetes, sexually transmitted diseases, etc.); only 10.5% of residents age 25 and over have a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 32.5% of adults have less than a high school diploma. The Lawrence Public School district is in state receivership since 2011, and district data reflect the trend of education failure continuing with the younger generation. Lawrence families are also transient, as family members come and go to their home countries and other Latino communities in the Northeast. The “Lawrence Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force” will provide substance use and abuse prevention programming for youth ages 11-18 years. With support of implemented DFC initiatives, the Task Force will promote a feeling of urgency and ownership among its members and strengthen the infrastructure among its partners to create and sustain a reduction in local youth substance use. In collaboration with its current community programming, the proposed project will engage multiple sectors of the community to employ a variety of environmental strategies to address local substance use problems, and implement a variety of evidenced-based, data driven prevention programming for the reduction in alcohol and marijuana (including vaping THC/Marijuana pods) use among target youth.
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).