Chelmsford Receives $6,600 Grant from Greater Lowell Health Alliance

The Greater Lowell Health Alliance of the Community Health Network Area 10 has awarded 10 grants totaling $171,426 to support programs and services to address the increasing issues surrounding substance abuse in the Greater Lowell area.

Among them is a $6,600 grant to the town of Chelmsford for its Substance Use Disorder Education and Prevention Week.

Utilizing a $200,000 contract awarded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts earlier this year, GLHA is providing grant funding to increase services and programs in the following priority areas:

• Build the capacity of those who work with children and youth to deliver prevention services.

• Address change in the social environment by promoting community norms and public policies that decrease substance use.

• Reduce risk factors and increase protective factors among youth and families by providing substance abuse prevention, education, outreach programs and services.

• Build local partnerships to implement strategies that change community conditions and increase the community’s capacity to sustain effective efforts.

State Representative Thomas Golden (D-Lowell) was instrumental in procuring the $200,000 grant from the state.

“As an organization solely dedicated to improving the quality of health in the communities we serve, we are very pleased to put these funds into the hands of the front-line organizations addressing the substance abuse crisis that threatens the quality of life of those who live and work in Greater Lowell,” said Kerrie D’Entremont, GLHA Executive Director. “With the generous support of Representative Golden and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, we are making inroads in addressing this critical health issue in the area of substance use prevention and education.”

GLHA – comprised of healthcare providers, business leaders, educators, civic and community leaders – plays a critical role in helping individuals and organizations collaboratively improve the health of the Greater Lowell community. By raising awareness and providing resources, the Alliance empowers community organizations to make decisions and take actions that will lead to an improvement in the region’s health.

Below is the list of all grant recipients, award amount and a brief description of their projects:

Town of Chelmsford – Substance Use Disorder Education and Prevention Week ($6,600)

The project will increase awareness about substance use disorder and provide students, teachers and the residents in the community with tools that will help them to identify prevention steps, warning signs, and interventions to deal with this epidemic. By presenting an activity to students from elementary level through high school, with all programs being age appropriate, the project will reach approximately 5,500 students.

Tewksbury Police Department- Substance Use and Prevention Education Week ($10,000)

The project will use education to help remove the stigma that is attached to drug and alcohol abuse, inform the public of the widespread problem that can affect anyone, and encourage people to talk to others and ask for help. The strategy will be to continue to conduct outreach education programs with the community counterparts, as well as reaching out to surrounding communities in the Greater Lowell area. During and following Substance Use Prevention & Education Week, efforts will continue to keep the lines of communication open.

Lowell Community Health Center - Substance Use and Prevention Task Force (SUP) Regional Initiative ($100,000)

The project will build and expand the capacity of the region, to provide substance abuse prevention education and create a heightened awareness on issues facing communities in the Greater Lowell region. The SUP Task Force will collaborate with representatives from the towns of Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Lowell, Tewksbury, Westford and Wilmington. The Lowell Community Health Center will hire a Regional Health Educator to assist in the SUP Task Force coordination, implementation or expansion of existing prevention education efforts among all participating communities.

The core target population of the initiative to receive primary prevention education will be children and young adults up to the age of 21 years old, along with general outreach to parents, families, community residents, and service providers. The overarching impact of the regional initiative will mean that all communities in the SUP Task Force area will, at a minimum, have the ability to engage their communities in discussion and provide at least one prevention education activity with the youth in their community.

Through this initiative, each community of the SUP Task Force will have the capacity to hold a community forum. The community forums will provide an overview of the current landscape of the substance use, identify current gaps in data, information and services and will serve as a platform to share and leverage current resources to provide the prevention education. All the communities are actively engaged and are committed to substance use prevention work. Via this initiative, some of the communities will also have the opportunity to further assess their need and allow for planning time to achieve a higher level of readiness for implementation of an evidence-based prevention education strategy. Each community’s implementation timeline and prevention education strategy will be adapted to meet their particular community need. Some communities are already using evidenced-based curricula and in those instances, the regional health educator will provide support in expanding the reach to a larger number of students.

Billerica Substance Abuse Prevention Committee - Substance Use and Prevention Collaborative ($10,000)

The project will hire a coordinator to strengthen a comprehensive substance abuse program both within the school and in the larger community. The coordinator’s purpose will be to develop a program that will include embedded professional development for staff, presentations for parents, speakers for different organizations, and the necessary supplies and materials to reinforce the lessons learned.

Lowell House, Inc - Prevention Outreach Project (POP) ($10,000)

The “Prevention Outreach Project (“POP”) project focuses on the need for increased access to services and support for disenfranchised members of the Lowell community struggling with substance abuse and the disease of addictions. The POP project will specifically target the underserved population of 18- to 22-year-old young persons by providing help and support where they live, work, and play. The project will work closely with the Substance Use and Abuse Task Force to both identify this population and strategize innovative, practical solutions. The project aims not only to break the cycle of addictions and addictions related crime, but also to save lives through active harm reduction.

Lowell Public Schools - Arts in Substance Abuse Prevention for Lowell Middle Schools ($10,000)

Lowell Public Schools will bring school-based substance abuse prevention dramatic performances to all seventh and eighth grade students in school year 2014-2015 and hold a community-wide performance to engage parents and other adults in substance abuse prevention with the targeted students.

Mental Health Association of Greater Lowell, Inc. - Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist ($10,000)

The Substance Abuse Prevention Specialist will target clinical services to both parents and youth, with a clear overarching goal of decreasing the risk of substance abuse in youth. The collaboration will be focused on the four primary agencies who work with higher risk youth and families: the Lowell Police Department, Lowell Public Schools, United Teen Equality Center (UTEC), and Lowell Community Health Center (LCHC).

Dracut Public Schools/Richardson Middle School -Substance Awareness Program ($6,226.10)

The substance awareness program will provide important information and coping skills for students. The program will also increase student knowledge of substances of abuse and how they affect a person’s physical, mental/emotional, and social health. Students will also be provided with alternatives to drug use and age-appropriate refusal skills, which will enable student to recognize the common misconceptions that the media and their peers often present.

Westford Health Department, Utilizing Evidence-Based Prevention Programs to Reduce Substance Abuse in Westford ($6,100)

The project will implement two substance use and prevention programs: Table Talks and Guiding Good choices.Table Talks will utilize the existing social bonds between parents, friends, and neighbors and develops those relationships as a strategy for preventing teen risky behaviors.Guiding Good Choices (GGC) will prevent substance abuse among teens by teaching parents of preteens and younger adolescents in grades 4-8 the skills they need to improve family communication and family bonding.

Lowell Police Department – LPD LYDC Drug Awareness Event ($2,500)

The Drug Awareness Event hosted by Lowell Youth Development Collaborative (LYDC), with support from the Greater Lowell Substance Abuse Task Force, will strive to teach children, teens, and parents about the dangers of drug abuse. Ultimately, LYDC hopes this event will contribute to efforts to reduce the incidence of substance abuse in the Greater Lowell area by preventing children and teenagers from using drugs in the first place. The event will focus on educating children, teens, and parents. A keynote address from a woman who lost her daughter to a drug overdose will share her personal experience.

Grants were awarded to support projects taking place between September 2014 and August 2015. Non-profit organizations or public entities (such as municipalities, schools, health and human service providers) were eligible to apply. Priority was given to agencies with representatives serving on the

GLHA’s Substance Use and Prevention Task Force. Organizations not currently participating in the above task force are welcome to apply and encouraged to join the task force.