One Community One Family (OCOF) Coalition: Prevention Coalition Youth in Elizabethport - Prevention Links (PL), serving as the fiscal agent for the One Community One Family Coalition (OCOF), proposes to implement a comprehensive community-level prevention initiative to address youth opioid exposure and prescription medication misuse in the Elizabethport neighborhood of Elizabeth, New Jersey. Elizabethport is a historic waterfront neighborhood within Union County that experiences significant socioeconomic challenges and has been impacted by high rates of substance use treatment admissions, overdose deaths, and opioid-related harms. Local coalition assessments have identified prescription medication misuse, medication availability and access, and low perception of risk as ongoing concerns among youth. The proposed initiative will build upon OCOF’s nearly ten years of Drug-Free Communities (DFC) funding and established coalition infrastructure to address emerging opioid-related threats, including counterfeit pills, fentanyl exposure, and prescription medication misuse among adolescents ages 12-17. Guided by the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) and the Seven Strategies for Community-Level Change, OCOF will implement evidence-based and evidence-informed environmental prevention strategies that engage youth, parents, schools, healthcare providers, pharmacies, law enforcement, community organizations, and other key stakeholders. Project activities will include coalition capacity building, youth leadership development, opioid and prescription medication misuse prevention education, youth-led awareness campaigns, community forums, implementation of the Opioids and Athletes program, delivery of the We’re Not Buying It! 2.0 curriculum, promotion of safe medication storage and disposal practices, distribution of medication safety resources, strengthening referral pathways among community systems, engagement of healthcare providers and pharmacies, and efforts to promote overdose prevention and medication safety policies and protocols. The initiative seeks to reduce youth opioid exposure and prescription medication misuse by addressing environmental conditions, community norms, access factors, and systems-level barriers that contribute to substance use risk. Expected outcomes include increased youth perception of risk associated with prescription medication misuse and opioid use, improved medication safety practices, strengthened community partnerships, increased access to prevention resources and support services, enhanced referral pathways, and greater adoption of prevention-focused policies and practices. Long-term outcomes include reductions in youth prescription medication misuse and opioid exposure, strengthened protective factors, sustainable community-level prevention infrastructure, and lasting changes in the culture and context surrounding prescription medication misuse. Through this initiative, OCOF will leverage its longstanding community partnerships and prevention expertise to create sustainable community-level change and protect Elizabethport youth from opioid-related harms.
