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 to Support Youth Opportunities

Each year, schools and organizations that serve youth ages 9-20 years 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.

The 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. Every year, we offer a limited number of mini-grant funding opportunities to community partners working with youth. The mini-grants are awarded to support community-driven, collective efforts to prevent substance use and promote the health and well-being of youth aged 9 to 20 years throughout the region.

Now in its fourth year, Healthy Acadia and Downeast Maine Partnerships for Success provides mini-grant sub-awards of $1,000 to $10,000 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. The grant application period closed on December 16, 2022; no applications are being accepted at this time.

We are thrilled for the opportunity to support projects in Hancock and Washington counties that create positive social interactions and activities for youth in our region. In the last three years, we have awarded 45 amazing projects that reached youth and communities throughout the region during a time when support and opportunities were so needed, including the creation of after-school programs, summer camps, outdoor recreation opportunities with corresponding equipment and so much more. 

For more information, to discuss project ideas, learn about previous year's projects and the evaluation process, or to schedule a time to connect by Zoom or phone 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.