South Mountain WORKS CARA Initiative: Community-Based Opioid and Methamphetamine Prevention for South Phoenix Youth - The South Mountain WORKS Coalition (SMWORKS) requests $75,000 in CARA Local Drug Crisis Enhancement Grant funding to implement four comprehensive, evidence-informed opioid and methamphetamine prevention strategies serving approximately 144,000 residents across ZIP codes 85040, 85041, and 85042 in South Mountain, South Phoenix, Arizona. SMWORKS is the longest-standing substance use prevention coalition exclusively dedicated to South Mountain, with an 18-year track record of community-based prevention work and eight years of Drug-Free Communities Support Program administration. Local data confirm a documented drug crisis: lifetime prescription pain reliever misuse among 8th grade students stands at 3.0 percent, double the national benchmark, with methamphetamine use reported above national benchmarks at both middle and high school levels, and more than half of 8th grade students reporting never having talked with a parent about strategies to avoid being offered substances (AYS, 2024). CARA funding will support four strategies that build directly upon SMWORKS' DFC foundation while expanding into opioid and methamphetamine-specific programming that DFC does not fund. Strategy 1 delivers ten bilingual Let's Talk Opioids and Meth community caregiver education sessions annually, reaching 200 caregivers, and produces three bilingual peer prevention videos through the SMWORKS Let's Talk Campaign infrastructure. Strategy 2 establishes a community-based Youth Advisory Board that co-produces bilingual prevention videos, develops social media prevention content, hosts two annual youth town halls, and participates in Arizona Youth Capitol Day civic policy education. Strategy 3 establishes opioid and methamphetamine prevention resource presence at five trusted third space community sites, deploys a CARA-funded Community Health Worker for weekly community outreach and care coordination using the SAMHSA warm handoff model, and hosts quarterly Community Listening Sessions grounded in community-based participatory research. Strategy 4 implements the South Mountain WORKS Prevention Partner recognition program with 10 pharmacies, medical offices, and health centers, promoting safe disposal and fentanyl awareness in healthcare settings while engaging youth in state-level policy education. SMWORKS will achieve six SMART objectives by August 30, 2027, including a 20 percent increase in Youth Advisory Board knowledge of fentanyl and methamphetamine risks, prevention resource presence at five third space sites reaching 200 community members, engagement of 10 Prevention Partner institutions, documentation of 50 unduplicated care coordination contacts, 200 caregivers reached with 70 percent reporting increased confidence, and three peer-created videos achieving 500 combined views. SMWORKS will participate fully in the CARA National Cross-Site Evaluation, submitting biennial core measure data through the DFC and CARA Me system using ZIP code-filtered Arizona Youth Survey data across grades 8, 10, and 12. TAPAZ serves as fiscal agent, providing financial oversight, compliance infrastructure, and federal reporting support consistent with 2 CFR Part 200.
