Healthy Acadia Announces Third Year of Mini-Grant Opportunities for Community Partners to Expand Youth Substance Use Prevention Initiatives

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PLEASE

Date: September 10, 2021

Program Contact: Sara McConnell, Healthy Acadia, Sara@HealthyAcadia.org, or (207) 255-3741

Media Contact: Tracey Carlson, Healthy Acadia, Tracey@HealthyAcadia.org, or (207) 667-7171

Healthy Acadia Announces Third Year of Mini-Grant Opportunities for Community Partners to Expand Youth Substance Use Prevention Initiatives

Healthy Acadia is thrilled to announce the launch of its third year of mini-grant funding opportunities available to community partners working with youth. 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. Mini-grants awarded will 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. 

Healthy Acadia and Downeast Maine Partnerships for Success will provide 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. 

“I am so excited to see more projects in Hancock and Washington counties with the opportunities this funding creates to provide support and create positive social interactions and activities for youth,” said Sara McConnell, PFS Initiative Coordinator. “In the last two years, we awarded 28 amazing projects that reached youth and communities throughout the region during a time when support and opportunities were so needed: new after-school programs, virtual and in person summer camps, outdoor recreation opportunities with corresponding equipment, and so much more.” 

Healthy Acadia will host informational sessions via Zoom to provide organizations interested in applying with opportunities to ask questions about proposed project ideas, previous year's projects, the evaluation process, and more. Sessions are scheduled for September 21, 2021, at 10 a.m., and September 29, 2021, at 3 p.m. Contact McConnell at Sara@HealthyAcadia.org for login information. 

For more information and to view the request for proposals, visit Healthy Acadia’s website: www.healthyacadia.org, or contact Sara McConnell, Project Coordinator, at 207-255-3741 or sara@healthyacadia.org. Applications are due by Wednesday, October 13, 2021.  

Healthy Acadia is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that engages in a broad range of initiatives to build healthier communities and make it easier for people to lead healthy lives across Washington and Hancock counties, Maine. Learn more at www.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. 

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PRESS RELEASETracey CarlsonCE, HPM, SB, SPR