Washington And Windham Counties
Net $300,000 To Keep Youths Off Drugs

(MONDAY, Sept. 29) – U.S. Sens. Jim Jeffords and Patrick Leahy Monday announced three Drug-Free Communities federal grant awards totaling $299,800 to Vermont anti-drug coalitions: the Central Vermont New Directions Coalition, the Barre Danforth Committee and the Brattleboro Area Prevention Coalition.

The funds are awarded through the Drug-Free Communities Program administered jointly by the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.  Funds from this program are used to prevent and reduce drug, alcohol, and tobacco abuse among youth.

"We know these programs are effective in reducing substance abuse among young people in Vermont. These federal funds will help three groups move closer to a goal we all share: creating drug-free communities. We must do everything we can to help these kids, and I commend those who are on the front lines for their hard work, " Jeffords said. 

“Drug abuse saddles rural communities with a wide range of problems, just as it does big cities,” said Leahy, the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which authorized and oversees the Drug-Free Communities grant program, created in 1997.  “Washington County and Windham County need all the help they can get to help inform parents about substance abuse, to reach at-risk youths, and to create safe spaces for student activities after school.  These funds will certainly help.”

The funds will be distributed as follows:

·         The Central Vermont New Directions Coalition will work with the Washington Central Friends of Education to use a $100,000 grant to offer workshops, increase literacy, organize community forums and improve local Students Against Drunk Driving chapters.

·         The Barre Danforth Committee will work with the Washington County Boys and Girls Club to use a $100,000 grant to combat adolescent substance abuse, to reduce child abuse, delinquency rates and teen pregnancy, and to promote literacy.

·         The Brattleboro Area Prevention Coalition will use a $99,800 grant to administer an after school program and implement a public awareness campaign to help reduce the abuse of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs by school children.

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