Project HERO (Hope, Empowerment, Recovery, Opportunity) - The Frogtown/Rondo Black Church Alliance (FRBCA), in partnership with the Multi Cultural Community Alliance (MCCA) - a current Drug-Free Communities (DFC) recipient - proposes Project HERO (Hope • Empowerment • Recovery • Opportunity), a five-year comprehensive community-based prevention initiative to reduce opioid, methamphetamine, and prescription drug misuse among youth ages 12–20 residing in Saint Paul's Downtown, Frogtown and Rondo neighborhoods and surrounding Ramsey County communities (covered under zip codes 55101, 55102, 55103, 55194, 55117, and 55130). Project HERO builds upon MCCA's established DFC coalition infrastructure and expands community-wide prevention efforts beyond tobacco and marijuana abuse for direct response to opioid, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and prescription drug crisis affecting youth and families in one of Minnesota's most diverse and economically challenged urban communities. FRBCA serves as the lead community implementation entity, bringing together faith-based institutions, schools, healthcare providers, behavioral health agencies, youth-serving organizations, law enforcement, local government, parents, and youth leaders in a coordinated, multisector prevention response. Working through CARA seven evidence-informed strategies along with MCCA partners to prevent youth substance use, ranging from: 1) education; 2) skill-building; and 3) mentoring and support services that reduce risk factors and strengthen protective factors at the individual and community level. Strategies 4 through 7 are especially critical for lasting impact, as they focus on: 4) removing systemic barriers; 5) modifying community environments and physical design; 6) reshaping consequences for behavior; and 7) advancing policies that limit youth access to substances. With these strategies, Project HERO integrates into 4 prevention pillars—Hope Through Education/Skill-building; Empowerment and Support with Youth Leadership; Recovery Through Community Referrals/Better Physical Design, and Opportunity with Systems Change. In short, Project HERO will strengthen protective factors, reduce risk factors, and shift community norms surrounding substance misuse. Over the five-year period of performance, Project HERO will: provide culturally responsive prevention education to at least 3,750 youth and 1,500 parents; train 100 youth leaders through the HERO Youth Prevention Council; implement communitywide awareness campaigns reaching over 50,000 community members; and create lasting environmental and policy changes that reduce youth access to harmful substances. The coalition will participate fully in the CARA National Cross-Site Evaluation and collect biennial youth survey data on prescription drug misuse and perception of risk in grades 6–12. FRBCA and MCCA collectively possess the organizational capacity, cultural authority, community trust, multisector coalition infrastructure, prevention expertise, and fiscal management systems necessary to achieve sustainable, community-wide change consistent with CARA program goals.
