Carroll County Hometown Health Coalition's Drug-Free Communities Program - Carroll County is a unique and fascinating community in the rural Ozark Mountains of northern Arkansas. In our second-largest school district, ten different languages are spoken: about 51.7% speak Spanish at home; 5.5% are Asian, Karen tribal refugees from south-central Myanmar – survivors of religious genocide and ethnic cleansing; 2% are from the Philippine Islands; 6.1% are from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific – the site of 67 atomic tests in the 1940s-1960s that rendered their islands radioactive and uninhabitable. With a population of 28,154, the county is largely rural with three small school districts. All are low-income and in federal Qualified Opportunity Zones established by Congress to encourage economic growth in underserved communities. A high proportion of our children are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. This proposal is a partnership between the Carroll County Hometown Health Coalition, the Carroll County Resource Council & Prevention Planning Board and the Carroll County Juvenile Probation Office’s Truancy Project. The Hometown Health Coalition has been working together for more than 20 years. The Resource Council has served our community since 1984 with a focus on youth leadership development and infrastructure improvement. The Carroll County Juvenile Probation Office’s Truancy Project currently serves 142 troubled kids in its Out of School Suspension classroom, its Graduation Credit Recovery program, its Saturday outreach to TUT (Tardy, Unexcused and Truant) students and its neighborhood summer camps. In this project, we propose to work together to provide a variety of prevention services: • Deliver marijuana and opioid misuse prevention lessons to high-risk youth. • Distribute educational materials at Carroll County’s major annual events both at booths and while offering youth-oriented activities that teach prevention messages • Educate adults on how to reduce opiate availability at home, specifically the use of lock bags and disposal of prescription drugs using Deterra bags • Engage leadership in Carroll County’s diverse ethnic communities and recruit local leaders who work with Carroll County youth. • Enhance Access/Reduce Barriers by providing materials in local different languages • Reach out to local civic clubs, churches and community groups, presenting the prevention message. We propose to strengthen the ties between our diverse populations and work together to prevent the misuse of marijuana and opioids by Carroll County youth.
