Community groups in Hays and several other northwest Kansas towns are among the recipients of state grants targeting the reduction of substance abuse among high school students.
The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS), Community Services and Programs Commission, Behavioral Health Services Division, has awarded grants totaling $205,000 to 16 community coalitions and school districts across Kansas.
These grants are intended to support efforts to reduce and discourage substance abuse (specifically, underage alcohol use, binge drinking, and/or marijuana use) through the implementation of evidence-based strategies that target high school-aged youth.
Funding for the grants was made available through the Kansas Department of Education’s Safe and Supportive Schools Program working with KDADS. The Safe and Supportive Schools initiative is a federal grant administered through the Office of Safe and Healthy Students (OSHS), U.S. Department of Education.
Using these grants, community groups and school districts will implement evidence-based strategies that have an impact on youth substance use. These include discouraging retail access, increasing family involvement, bolstering effective enforcement, changing social norms and discouraging early initiation into substance use.
Safe and Supportive Schools is a grant administered through OSHS at the U.S. Department of Education. The grant is designed to support measurement of school climate (also known as Conditions for Learning or CFL) regarding substance use and targeted intervention programs to improve those conditions at the high school level.
Grantees are:
| Labette County Substance Abuse Task Force | Parsons, KS | $ 3,239.00 |
| Sherman County Community for Prevention Education | Goodland, KS | $ 5,000.00 |
| Everyday Prevention Impacting Community | Hays, KS | $ 5,000.00 |
| Trego County Vision for Youth | WaKeeney, KS | $ 5,000.00 |
| Smith County Drug & Alcohol Council | Smith Center, KS | $ 5,000.00 |
| Grinnell & Wheatland Public Schools | Grinnell, KS | $ 8,050.00 |
| Blue Valley School District and RPC | Overland Park, KS | $ 9,942.00 |
| The Bridge Coalition | Eudora, KS | $ 12,500.00 |
| Jackson County Communities that Care Coalition | Mayetta, KS | $ 10,130.00 |
| Olathe Communities that Care | Olathe, KS | $ 9,942.00 |
| Labette County Family Coalition | Parsons, KS | $ 21,997.00 |
| Live Well Live Atchison | Atchison, KS | $ 21,000.00 |
| Reno County Communities That Care Association | Hutchinson, KS | $ 22,500.00 |
| Drug Free Osage County, Inc. | Lyndon, KS | $ 22,500.00 |
| Saint Thomas Aquinas | Overland Park, KS | $ 22,500.00 |
| Erie Risk Reduction & Education of Underage Drinking | Erie, KS | $ 20,700.00 |
| $ 205,000.00 |