Downeast Partnerships for Success
Downeast Maine Partnerships for Success is a collaborative effort among multiple community partners and organizations throughout Washington and Hancock counties and coordinated by Healthy Acadia to prevent youth substance use. The Downeast Maine Partnerships for Success (PFS) project is a five-year initiative funded through the Department of Health & Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) that facilitates and supports community-driven, collective efforts to prevent substance use and promote the health and well-being of youth aged 9 to 20 throughout the region.
Healthy Acadia and PFS partners will implement multiple strategies using the evidence-based Icelandic Model for Adolescent Substance Use Prevention and tailored to the needs and opportunities in rural Downeast Maine, to increase protective factors and decrease risk factors associated with youth substance use, specifically alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana.
Key objectives of the five-year project include:
Increasing parent/caregiver, school, and community awareness of and capacity to reduce risk factors and increase protective factors associated with youth substance use.
Implementing evidence-based programs, policies and practices to increase protective factors and decrease risk factors for substance use among youth ages 9-20 years.
Mini-grants for Youth-serving Projects and Opportunities
Downeast Maine Partnerships for Success (PFS) initiative, coordinated by Healthy Acadia, is a collaborative effort to prevent youth substance use across Washington and Hancock counties, with a focus on alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use prevention.
Healthy Acadia is thrilled to announce the launch of its fifth and final year of mini-grant funding opportunities available to community partners working with youth. Each year, schools and community organizations that serve youth ages 9-20 in Hancock and/or Washington counties, Maine seeking to partner with us to support positive, pro-social youth development; resilience; peer-based mental health support; structured, pro-social activities for youth; and/or engagement of parents and caregivers to increase their quantity and/or quality of time spent with youth will have an opportunity to apply for a mini-grant. Each year, mini-grants, ranging from $1,000 to $10,000, have been awarded to community groups, such as schools, community centers, and non-profit organizations, that seek to provide new opportunities that support positive social development, resilience, peer-based mental health support, and/or structured, pro-social activities to support substance use prevention for youth aged 9 to 20 throughout the region.
We are thrilled for the opportunity to support more projects in Hancock and Washington counties that create positive social interactions and activities for youth in our region. In the last four years, we have awarded funding to 60 amazing projects that have reached youth and communities throughout the region during a time when support and opportunities were so needed: new after-school programs, summer camps, outdoor recreation opportunities with corresponding equipment, and so much more.
The application process is open! Applications are due by Wednesday, October 18, 2023.
Download an application:
Healthy Acadia’s Partnerships for Success Project Coordinator is available for phone, in person or Zoom sessions to provide organizations interested in applying with opportunities to ask questions about proposed project ideas, previous year's projects, the evaluation process, and any other questions you may have about the mini-grants.
For more information, to discuss project ideas, or learn about previous year's projects and the evaluation process, please contact Sara McConnell, Project Coordinator, at 207-255-3741 or sara@healthyacadia.org.
This project is supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) under Partnerships for Success Grant # 1H79SP081695. Learn more by visiting www.samhsa.gov or by calling 877-SAMHSA-7. If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact one of the following team members:
Maria Donahue: Maria@HealthyAcadia.org
Sara McConnell: Sara@HealthyAcadia.org