Idaho Drug Policy office gets five-year grant for prevention programs
Idaho's Office of Drug Policy has received a five-year, $1.5 million a year federal grant for to boost substance abuse prevention efforts statewide. Elisha Figueroa, head of the office, said, "We are very excited about this award, as it will provide much-needed resources to the state and local communities working to keep their neighborhoods free from the devastating effects of substance abuse. We know that the most effective and lasting prevention work is done at the local level, and this award will nearly double the prevention funds going out to Idaho communities."
The grant funding starts Aug. 1, and will pay for a statewide needs assessment, and then will target 85 percent of the funds to community-level efforts. "It will really be based on the community's needs," Figueroa said. "So they'll be required to look at their specific community and determine what the needs are in that community, and then they'll write the grant application for these funds. We'll fund evidence-based programming as well as those strategies that are ... population-level based, meaning that they will affect the entire community."
The grant also will cover training and technical assistance from the state to local efforts, Figureoa said, "to build the sustainability, so that when these grant funds are gone, the programs will continue to go on." The grant program's purpose is "to prevent the onset and reduce the progression of substance abuse, including childhood and underage drinking; reduce substance abuse-related problems; and build prevention capacity and infrastructure at the state and community levels." Click below for the full announcement.
Idaho Office of Drug Policy
News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
IDAHO RECEIVES GRANT TO ADDRESS SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION
(Boise) – The Idaho Office of Drug Policy has been awarded a federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to fund community-level substance abuse prevention strategies and to improve Idaho’s prevention infrastructure. Through the Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant (SPF SIG), Idaho will receive $1.5 million per year for five years beginning August 1.
“We are very excited about this award as it will provide much-needed resources to the state and local communities working to keep their neighborhoods free from the devastating effects of substance abuse,” said Elisha Figueroa, administrator of the Office of Drug Policy. “We know that the most effective and lasting prevention work is done at the local level, and this award will nearly double the prevention funds going out to Idaho communities.”
Idaho now has a variety of prevention programs being supported by federal, state and private sources. However, with these additional federal funds the Office of Drug Policy will bring stakeholders together to build a more comprehensive, sustainable system for substance abuse prevention in Idaho. The overall purpose of the SPF SIG program is to prevent the onset and reduce the progression of substance abuse, including childhood and underage drinking; reduce substance abuse-related problems; and build prevention capacity and infrastructure at the state and community levels.
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