Thanks to advocacy efforts, DFC funding fully restored

From CADCA:

When CADCA issued an alert earlier this year that the Drug Free Communities (DFC) program had been slated for a $9.5 million cut, the field responded in force, sending nearly 3,000 faxes to Capitol Hill to ask Congress to restore the funds. These efforts, along with the advocacy efforts of CADCA, paid off. Funding for the DFC program has been fully restored to $95 million for FY 2011.


Nearly 450 applications have been submitted for the current FY 2011 grant cycle. It is our understanding that a funding level of $95 million means that there should be enough funds to support approximately 75 new grants, rather than the 7 that would have been available if the program had been cut by $9.5 million. The fact that funding the DFC funding was restored is a major success for the field.

Coalitions making a difference

Since this is the season for celebrations, I decided to blog about hopeful things today. So, I am starting with an excerpt from a message sent by the DFC Administrator on the ONDCP list serv earlier this month:

At a time when many national surveys are showing increases in youth substance use, the past 30-day use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana have declined significantly and in all grade levels (middle school, high school) between DFC coalitions’ first and most recent data report. Additionally, perception of risk increased significantly for alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use among youth in DFC-funded communities. Both markers are clear evidence of the success of your work and the effectiveness of this model.

I wanted to share that with you as a harbinger of hope. The Prevention WINS coalition accomplished quite a bit over the past 4+ years and now, with DFC support, we have the wonderful opportunity to accomplish even more, creating a safe and healthy community for our children.

What is environmental prevention?

During the DFC New Grantee Training last week, we learned more about environmental prevention strategies.

Environmental strategies address the place, settings, occasions and circumstances in which alcohol and other drug use and/or sales occur. Over the last four years, the Prevention WINS coalition mostly worked on individually focused prevention programs like Life Skills Training and Guiding Good Choices.

The DFC grant requires that we focus on environmental strategies.

While the coalition's DFC strategies will focus on environmental prevention, we will continue to work with and support community organizations that offer individual prevention programs.

Copies of this presentation and others from the New Grantee Training are available on the coalition's website.