Families are essential for prevention (FEP), an alcohol, marijuana, and opioid prevention program for children ages 3-11 and their families in dayton. - westcare ohio (WC-OH), d/b/a east end community…

Families are essential for prevention (FEP), an alcohol, marijuana, and opioid prevention program for children ages 3-11 and their families in dayton. - westcare ohio (WC-OH), d/b/a east end community services, seeks $1,775,386.95 for the families are essential for prevention (FEP) program, a five-year, community-based strategic prevention framework program in dayton. Pepp will serve children ages 3-11 and their families through education and activities to prevent, reduce, and delay the onset and progression of alcohol, marijuana, and opioid misuse. FEP will use evidence-based practices in collaboration with community partners to deliver culturally responsive and accessible prevention services. FEP will deliver the evidence-based curriculum strengthening families using the social resiliency model to 24 adults with children annually (120 over the life of the grant) at head start, as well as deliver the too good for drugs and violence curriculum to 24 kindergarten students annually (120 over the life of the grant) at ruskin school. Additionally, FEP will launch the parent/caregiver-driven "parent café," which will hold monthly events, and will invite program completers to participate in a parent advisory group to help evaluate and add value to programming. Parents/caregivers also will produce quarterly social media messaging focused on engaged parenting and prevention. All program components will be delivered to enhance access and reduce barriers in a trauma-informed, multicultural, bilingual approach that is compatible with the community composition of dayton. Through this program, WC-OH and community partners adamhs, preschool promise, and the miami child development centers, FEP will expand prevention capacity at the neighborhood level and implement public awareness campaigns to reach additional youth, their families, significant others, teachers, clergy, and community residents. The goals of FEP are to increase parent/guardian/caregiver's ability to instill protective factors - against drug and alcohol misuse - of children in their care, reduce the risk of future engagement in drug and alcohol misuse by increasing protective factors in youth, and strengthen the capacity of community to ensure that substance abuse prevention outcomes achieved are sustained and that effective prevention interventions continue. Objectives include: 75% of children completing the program each year will increase their self-advocacy, personal behavior and pro-social skills, and 75% of participating parents/caregivers will increase their monitoring skills in the well-being of their children. To achieve these objectives, FEP will employ a project director, two (2) prevention specialists data analyst, and a contracted director of research and evaluation, with the program overseen by an executive director. Ultimately, FEP will not only achieve the target outcomes of substance use reduction and prevention, but change attitudes and norms regarding substance use. In order to ensure sustainability, WC-OH will collaborate with a community partner on at least one (1) funding request annually to strengthen the capacity to prevent and address substance abuse among youth by leveraging other funding.