Walz Announces Funding for Drug-Free Communities

"U.S. House"

09/04/2008

(New Ulm and Albert Lea, MN) – Today, Congressman Walz announced that New Ulm and Albert Lea will each receive $125,000 in Drug Free Communities (DFC) Federal grant monies.

“Efforts to keep our schools and our children drug-free are critical to healthy communities,” said Walz, a former high school geography teacher at Mankato West High School. “The Drug-Free Communities Program recognizes this and funds the tools necessary to help foster a healthy community.”

“This funding will allow the Underage Substance Abuse Coalition (USAC) to significantly expand its efforts to reduce underage alcohol consumption and other drug problems. It will also allow us to further expand our activities throughout Brown County,” said Steve Schneider, United Way Community Solutions Chairperson. “Being selected for this grant is a reflection of the importance United Way of the Brown County Area is giving to this need identified in the Community Assessment. United Way is working hard to leverage all available resources to maximize the work that can be accomplished with this grant.”

“Many people and organizations in Freeborn County pulled together to make this happen – it is another example of what happens when people collaborate,” said Alice Englin with Freeborn County Department of Human Services. “We are very excited to have been selected for this funding and are ready to expand our prevention and education efforts in order to reduce substance abuse among our youth.”

Underage Substance Abuse Coalition of Brown County and the Freeborn County Partners in Prevention (FC-PIP) work to reduce substance abuse among youth by addressing factors that increase the risk of substance abuse and promoting factors that minimize the risk of substance abuse. They also work to establish and strengthen collaboration among nonprofit agencies, federal, state and local governments to prevent and reduce substance abuse among youth. This funding will assist them in achieving their goals by developing a comprehensive awareness-raising campaign using the media, expanding resources for education and support for parents countywide, and facilitating the assessment and selection of evidence-based prevention curricula in county schools.

The DFC program provides grants to community organizations that facilitate citizen participation in local drug prevention efforts. Nationwide, 199 new grantees including the organizations in Brown and Freeborn counties were recently elected from 419 applicants through a competitive peer review process.