Lewis County YEAH Coalition Awarded $125,000 Drug Free Communities Grant

Lewis County YEAH Coalition Awarded
$125,000 Drug Free Communities Grant
09/20/17 05:00pm

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owville, NY-

The

has been awarded a

$125,000 grant, according to a release today from Congresswoman Elise

Stefanik (R-NY-21), member of the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force, announcing

a series of new and continuing Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support

Program Grants awarded to organizations around the district working to

prevent substance abuse and promote recovery. These grants are

administered by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy

(ONDCP) in partnership with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services

Administration (SAMHSA). The DFC Grant Program was created under the

Drug Free Communities Act of 1997 and is the Nation’s leading effort to

mobilize communities to prevent and combat substance abuse among youth.

The grant, which is the first awarded to the YEAH! (Youth Empowerment and

Health) Coalition, will allow the coalition to hire an Outreach Director, coalition

chairperson Cathie Wooledge told linkinglewiscounty.com. The person would

be responsible for organizing activities and performing outreach to the

community, according to Ms. Wooledge, and would likely work out of the

office on the Number Three Road.

"This is great for our Lewis County youth from a prevention standpoint," Ms.

Wooledge said.

“Substance abuse touches our communities, our schools and our families, and

no one is immune from this devastating epidemic,” said Congresswoman

Stefanik. “Prevention is a powerful tool to protect against substance abuse in

the North Country. Teaching our youth to make healthy choices at a young age

is the first step in avoiding the many tragedies we see and read about in the

news. These important grants will go a long way in bringing youth, parents,

school administrators and other community leaders together to save lives and

protect our loved ones. I commend ONDCP and SAMHSA for making these

critical investments that enable us to stop substance abuse and improve the

health of our North Country communities. In Congress, I will continue working

across the aisle with my colleagues to address the substance abuse epidemic

plaguing far too many families across our district and across our nation.”