Morgan county partnership's prevention and therapeutic support initiative (PTSI) - the morgan county partnership's prevention and therapeutic support initiative (PTSI) will serve morgan county…

Morgan county partnership's prevention and therapeutic support initiative (PTSI) - the morgan county partnership's prevention and therapeutic support initiative (PTSI) will serve morgan county participants in morgan county, west virginia, ages 9 to 20. The morgan county partnership (MCP or "the partnership") will be the lead organization along with the help of committed partners. The morgan county partnership's main focus is on drug and alcohol prevention. Morgan county is a community that has high student poverty rates (approximately 67% county-wide). There is a high percentage of young people using drugs and alcohol at rates higher than the national average. With a poverty rate of 15.8% (CENSUS), which is also higher than the national average, the probability of health and social risk is of high concern. The first goal of the MCP's PTSI program is to reduce youth substance use, specifically among youth ages 9-20, by implementing evidenced based programs (EBP) and practices in local youth-serving agencies, the school system, and higher education. This goal will be accomplished through the following objectives: objective 1: increase the average age of first use (YRS.) by 5% measured by the pride survey and asset survey, along with objective 2: increase perception of risk of alcohol and marijuana among youth and parents by 3%, as measured by pride survey and asset survey. The second goal of the MCP's PTSI program is to strengthen the coalition's infrastructure to increase its capacity to effect positive community change by promoting the coalition's prevention and intervention services and provide training and support to the coalition members. This goal will be accomplished through the following objective: objective 1: the coalition membership will be knowledgeable of strategies to prevent youth substance abuse, as measured by coalition member survey and training attendance logs. From these goals and objectives, we hope to expand our capacity along with increasing the first onset of use of substances and reducing underage drinking, use of marijuana and methamphetamine. At a minimum, 3,000 people will be part of our efforts or be affected by our initiatives. We intend to serve all sectors of our community throughout the life span of this grant.