Portsmouth Prevention Coalition Gets $5,000 Legislative Grant

The Portsmouth Prevention Coalition spent two years conducting a comprehensive Community Needs Assessment on adolescent substance abuse in the town. The study – which has been presented to Portsmouth school and municipal officials as well as state officials – is designed to raise the awareness of community and state leaders about the seriousness of the issues that face the town’s youth and to direct community efforts to address them.

For the past two years, a coordinator (a certified substance abuse prevention specialist supervisor) has been paid by the Portsmouth Prevention Coalition to work 10 hours per week to conduct the study. The coalition voted recently to increase the coordinator’s hours to 20 per week to help move the study into an active stage – coordinating all prevention resources in the town to address and stem what the coalition calls alarming rages of substance abuse by Portsmouth youth.

Rep. Dennis M. Canario (D-Dist. 71, Portsmouth, Little Compton, Tiverton) has announced the presentation of a $5,000 legislative grant to assist with the continuing work of the coalition study. The funds will be used to pay for 200 hours of the study coordinator’s salary while the work continues at identifying the substance abuse needs and issues in the community and developing best practices of prevention programming and strategies.

Representative Canario, who sponsored the coalition’s request for grant money, praised the organization and said “this grant will help the Prevention Coalition mobilize resources in Portsmouth and at the state level as it works to address the problem of substance abuse by our young people. The organization’s goal of reducing the incidents of substance abuse will certainly benefit the town’s youth and students, and it will also help parents and the town at large become better and more active participants in the effort.”

The Portsmouth Prevention Coalition, in its proposal, indicated the need for the legislative grant was a result of a reduction in program funding at the state level over the part two years and its financial commitment to a student assistance counselor at Portsmouth High School that essential depleted a federal block grant.

The study is available on the town’s web site: www.portsmouthri.com . To view the study, slick on board and commission, then go to Portsmouth Prevention Coalition and follow the link to the 2013 and 2014 School Survey.