Community in Crisis (CIC), Receives 'Year Two' Grant

Trump Awards an Historic Number of DFC Grants to Prevent Youth Substance Use

$90.9 Million Awarded to Largest Ever Number of Local Coalitions, Spanning all 50 States

Bernardsville, NJ - Marking the 20 year anniversary of the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program grant awards, President Trump announced $90.9 million in grants to 731 local drug prevention coalitions. This year’s group represents the largest number of single-year grantees since the program’s founding. The grants will provide local community coalitions funding to prevent youth substance use, including prescription drugs, marijuana, tobacco, and alcohol. President Trump and the ONDCP Deputy Director James W. Carroll hosted a roundtable discussion with DFC grant awardees and Youth Representatives at the White House. Community in Crisis (CIC), a local coalition based in Bernardsville, NJ, was awarded a Year Two Continuation Grant under the Drug Free Communities program.

Toni Knoll, CIC Executive Director, Strategy and Prevention Initiatives, said, “Our first year with DFC funding has enabled us to work with schools, parents and the kids themselves to spread the message of prevention and hope. Reaching our youth is crucial – when you watch 50 middle school kids each week at the Community Hub engaged in a service opportunity that ties in with our mission, you have to believe that our prevention and awareness messaging is hitting home.”

“Our local DFC coalitions are a key part of this effort because they are relentless in their work to prevent youth from initiating drug use and ultimately, saving more lives,” said the ONDCP Deputy Director Carroll.

The Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program, created by the Drug-Free Communities Act of 1997, is the nation’s leading effort to mobilize communities to prevent youth substance use. Directed by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the DFC Program provides grants to community coalitions to strengthen the infrastructure among local partners to create and sustain a reduction in local youth substance use.

Prescription drug abuse prevention is one of the core measures of effectiveness for local DFC coalitions, and coalitions nationwide have led innovative opioid prevention initiatives. DFC’s 2017 National Evaluation End-of-Year Report found that at least 97% of middle school and 94% of high school youth report that they have not misused prescription drugs in the past 30-days in DFC communities.

CIC began in 2013 following the overdose deaths of two young adults in the Somerset Hills community. A coalition of community agencies, organizations, schools, churches and concerned citizens, it offers bi-weekly support groups for families struggling with addiction, innovative educational opportunities in the school environment, medicine take-back days, town hall meetings, and more.

Additionally, Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and the Horizon Foundation have partnered with CIC to produce and scale out an evidence-based community toolkit for implementation by communities across New Jersey.

For more information or to get involved, contact CIC at info@communityincrisis.org, or visit www.communityincrisis.org.