UYLC Drug Free Communities - The proposed Drug Free Communities support program (DFC) project is to increase community collaboration to build the capacity and infrastructure necessary to create sustainable community-level change and reduce youth substance use related to alcohol and marijuana. The proposed project will serve Kamiah, a small frontier community in north central Idaho with a population of approximately 4,600 in its service area. Our community has been plagued with a history of substance use resulting from a” work hard, play hard” mentality. Given this history, increasing the capacity and infrastructure of our community to tackle youth substance use is paramount to the overall health of our population. Because of our county’s rich history of substance misuse, the population of focus for the project is the Kamiah School District boundaries, with special emphasis on community stakeholders, parents, and youth. The project seeks to serve the entire population annually, and over the life of the project, with both of its goals. The proposed project will serve Kamiah with its two main goals: increase community collaboration and reduce youth substance use, related to underage drinking and marijuana misuse. Progress towards goals will be measured by an increase in coalition participation and community collaboration by 10% annually; a decrease in past 30-day youth alcohol and marijuana use, peer and parental disapproval, perception of harm, and increase in support for agencies that work with people affected by substance use/misuse. Through DFC funding, our community will work to further strengthen capacity and collaboration among adults and key stakeholders, as strong partnerships will be vital to the success of the project. Special emphasis will be placed on 0–18- year-olds which accounts for 20.1% of the overall population. Utilizing the most effective public health prevention strategies focused on community collaboration and environmental change including the Strategic Prevention Framework and CADCA’s Seven Strategies for Community-Level Change, the Upriver Youth Leadership Council will provide evidence-based initiatives to address youth substance use related to underage drinking and marijuana use. The project coordinator along with the coalition members will engage youth by outreaching to public-school systems as well as to church youth groups, youth-oriented groups, and private and charter schools. The project coordinator and coalition members will also support a group of youth advocates as they learn to lead their peers, schools, and community in substance use prevention efforts.
