Medfield Cares About Prevention News!

Medfield Cares About Prevention Coalition Announces Drug-Free Communities Grant Continuation

The Medfield Cares About Prevention (MCAP) coalition, is excited to announce that it was awarded a $625,000 federal grant from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) under the Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program. This grant program, managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), represents an opportunity to strengthen ongoing efforts in preventing youth substance use in our community.

ONDCP’s DFC program is the nation’s leading effort to mobilize communities to prevent and reduce substance use among youth. The DFC program provides federal grants to community coalitions to identify and respond to the issues unique to their community and change community conditions tied to youth substance use. With the grant, MCAP will be able to continue building a safe, healthy, drug-free community.

“Preventing substance use today is critical, so that today’s youth don’t become tomorrow’s overdose victims. We are thrilled to award this grant because we know the outcomes DFC funded coalitions are capable of achieving when implementing evidence-based prevention strategies at the local level.” said Helen Hernandez, Administrator of the DFC Program at ONDCP. “Through the DFC program, CDC is empowering community coalitions to implement local solutions to unique, local conditions, with the common goal of preventing youth substance use.” added Allison Arwady, MD, MPH, director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at CDC.

“The Town of Medfield is grateful for the continued fiscal support of ONDCP and CD” , said Kristine Trierweiler, Town Administrator for Medfield. “We are dedicated to the ongoing efforts to reduce youth substance use in our community. This grant will allow us to allocate resources to this critical issue and ensure a positive impact on our youth and in our community.”

MCAP is a coalition of people who live and work in the Medfield community and who care about the well-being of our youth. MCAP's mission is to reduce youth substance use, promote healthy decisions, and build a culture of safety in Medfield. This community coalition has broad representation of parents, youth, businesses, schools, healthcare professionals, private organizations, and public agencies. Our target population is Medfield youth, ages 11 to 18. MCAP works to reduce youth substance use and to promote positive alternatives to substance use through community collaboration.

In 2019, the Town of Medfield and MCAP were awarded a five-year Drug-Free Communities (DFC) grant allowing for the hiring of a full-time Substance Use Prevention Coordinator who worked to re-engage valuable members of the coalition and organizations within the community. We are very grateful that the additional five-years of funding will aid in supporting the ongoing efforts of the full-time Substance Use Prevention Coordinator, as well as providing funds for an assortment of evidence-based strategies to reduce youth substance use.

There are many whose contributions played a role in achieving continued funding. We would like to thank our leadership team, sector representatives, town leaders, school administrators, coalition members, youth and our community! We would also like to thank our grant writing consultant, Amanda Decker of Bright Solutions Consulting, who successfully guided us again on the process. A special thank you to the Medfield Foundation Legacy Fund, who awarded MCAP a mini grant back in 2019 positioning MCAP to secure consulting services that proved to be vital.

We look forward to another five years of meaningful and important collaboration with the Medfield community!

The coalition is open to all community members! Learn more on our website at https://medfieldcares.org/ or email us at medfieldoutreach@medfield.net for the monthly meeting schedule.

Please join us in this important work!