CARA Community Outreach - The Prevention Empowerment Partnership (PEP), an initiative of Marshall University Resource Corporation (MURC) Center of Excellence, seeks funding through the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) Local Drug Crises Program to implement a comprehensive, community-wide strategy to reduce youth acceptability and misuse of opioids, fentanyl, counterfeit pills, methamphetamine, and prescription drugs in Cabell County, West Virginia. Guided by the community-level change strategies, PEP will coordinate prevention education, youth leadership development, mentoring, environmental strategies, coalition-building, and policy education to create sustainable community change. Project activities will be guided by school-based youth survey data, stakeholder input, youth focus groups, and ongoing evaluation. Through implementation of all seven community-level change strategies, PEP will strengthen infrastructure, increase youth perception of risk, expand access to prevention services, reduce access to substances, strengthen protective factors, and support sustainable norms discouraging youth substance use, resulting in measurable reductions in youth opioid, fentanyl, methamphetamine, counterfeit pill, and prescription drug misuse throughout Cabell County. PEP recognizes that youth substance misuse is influenced by individual, family, peer, school, and community factors. The project will engage schools, families, youth-serving organizations, healthcare providers, law enforcement, community leaders, and youth in a coordinated prevention effort. School- and community-based programming will include evidence-based and evidence-informed curricula, which will also fulfill West Virginia’s Laken’s Law requirement for annual fentanyl and opioid prevention education and addresses opioid, prescription drug, methamphetamine, counterfeit pill, and fentanyl risks. Community awareness efforts will include social media campaigns, youth-created public service announcements, outreach events, educational materials, prevention activities, and youth poster contests. To increase access to services, PEP will expand programming into underserved areas of Cabell County, particularly Eastern Cabell County, through partnerships with schools, community centers, churches, the YMCA Phil Cline Center, the Cabell County Community and Technology Center, and other youth-serving organizations. Evidence-based programming will be delivered alongside mentoring and youth development activities. Environmental strategies will promote safe medication storage and disposal, medication drop box use, Drug Take Back Day participation, and awareness of fentanyl contamination and counterfeit pills. Coalition partners will collaborate with healthcare providers, pharmacies, law enforcement, and community organizations to reduce youth access to substances and strengthen prevention-focused practices.
