Southington Among CT Towns to Get Grants to Prevent Youth Substance Abuse

*Editor’s note: This story was first published Sept. 14. Here it is again, in case you missed it.

The Town of Southington is one of more than 20 Connecticut communities that have been awarded grants by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to prevent youth substance use and be used to support Connecticut’s Second Chance-related initiatives.

These grants, totaling $2.7 million, will provide local community coalitions with substance use prevention funding and will support the state’s efforts to reduce crime, improve public safety, and end the school-to-prison pipeline that has had a detrimental effect on Connecticut communities for a generation, according to a Monday announcement from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

“When we were investing in permanent punishment, we should have been investing in permanent reform. When we were building modern jails, we should have been building modern schools. With Second Chance, we’ve transformed our direction so that we can end a cycle of crime that mires so many communities. Substance use and addiction are a disease and a crisis – and we should do everything possible to prevent addiction and treat people. It lowers crime, improves job creation, and it’s simply the right thing to do,” Malloy said. “These grants will support the work that the state is doing at a local level and will strengthen our efforts to create a true Second Chance Society here in Connecticut.”

These Drug-Free Communities (DFC) grants will help strengthen collaboration among communities, local, state, and non-profit agencies to prevent and reduce substance use among youth and, thus, prevent crime. The long-term goal of the grant program is to reduce substance abuse among adults by addressing community factors that increase the risk of substance abuse and promote the factors that minimize the risk of substance abuse.

Southington’s Southington Board of Education and Southington’s Town Wide Effort to Promote Success Coalition will receive a $125,000 grant.

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The work of the 20 recipient communities will proceed in tandem with Malloy’s Second Chance Society initiative. With a direct correlation between substance abuse and crime, the initiative includes funding for job-training, supportive housing for ex-offenders including those with substance abuse disorders, and programs in schools that interrupt the school to prison pipeline. The partnerships that these DFC grants strengthen locally mirror the partnerships that Second Chance creates between law enforcement, education, behavioral health, the faith community and numerous other partners to prevent crime and support those in need of a second chance.

DFC program funds will go towards community coalitions that have formed to address youth substance use. They will fund community-based coalitions in order to support their day to day operations.

Photo credit: Town of Southington.