Quad Cities Bi-State Drug Free Communities Coalition is a cross-sector partnership that unites Illinois and Iowa stakeholders to prevent and reduce youth substance use across the Quad City region. - The Quad Cities Bi-State Drug-Free Communities Coalition, led by the YWCA of the Quad Cities as fiscal agent, is a community-based partnership established to prevent and reduce youth substance use among youth ages 12–18 across Rock Island County, Illinois, and Scott County, Iowa, a regional service area of approximately 382,000 residents. There is currently no active Drug-Free Communities coalition serving the Quad Cities region, creating a critical opportunity to restore a coordinated, community-wide prevention system. Local data demonstrate urgent need. In Illinois, approximately 47% of 12th-grade students report past-year alcohol use and 29% report marijuana use. In Iowa, alcohol use remains a leading concern and e-cigarette use continues to be one of the fastest-growing substance use issues among youth. School reports, community partners, and direct service data further indicate rising concerns related to vaping, early alcohol exposure, and youth access to substances through social sources. Contributing local conditions include favorable norms toward substance use, low perception of harm, family stress, transportation barriers, insufficient evening and weekend activities, and fragmented prevention efforts that limit early intervention and coordinated support. The coalition includes representatives from all 12 required sectors and has been actively meeting since 2025 to review data, identify priorities, recruit partners, and prepare for implementation. The YWCA of the Quad Cities brings extensive experience managing federal, state, and local grants, established fiscal and administrative systems, and direct service reach to more than 750 youth annually through prevention, outreach, shelter, housing, and supportive service programs. Many youths served face housing instability, trauma exposure, family conflict, and unmet behavioral health needs that increase vulnerability to substance use. This capacity ensures immediate readiness to implement grant activities, coordinate partners across both states, and manage all programmatic and fiscal requirements. Coalition leadership also includes staff with direct clinical and treatment experience supporting youth affected by substance use. This project directly advances the two goals of the Drug-Free Communities Support Program by: (1) strengthening collaboration among community stakeholders to address youth substance use and (2) reducing youth substance use through strategies that reduce risk factors, strengthen protective factors, and improve community conditions for youth. The coalition will implement all seven DFC strategies for community-level change through evidence-based and practice-based approaches, including public education campaigns, school and parent outreach, youth leadership development, prevention skill-building, alternative substance-free activities during high-risk hours, improved referral and transportation access, retailer compliance and enforcement efforts, and policy, systems, and environmental change initiatives. Expected short-term outcomes include increased coalition capacity, stronger cross-sector coordination, greater youth and parent engagement, and increased awareness of substance use risks. Intermediate outcomes include increased perception of harm, increased parental and peer disapproval, reduced favorable norms toward substance use, reduced perceived access to alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine products, and stronger protective factors such as youth connectedness and family communication. Long-term outcomes include measurable reductions in past 30-day youth use of alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco/nicotine, delayed age of first use, and sustained community collaboration beyond the grant period. The coalition will fully participate in the DFC National Cross-Site Evaluation and collect all required core measures for alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and prescription drug misuse. Findings will be used for continuous quality improvement and shared with the community.
