Building a strong community- on the southside - lpknc is collaborating with youth, families, and community partners to craft a strategic roadmap that will drive the implementation of initiatives aimed…

Building a strong community- on the southside - lpknc is collaborating with youth, families, and community partners to craft a strategic roadmap that will drive the implementation of initiatives aimed at reducing substance misuse and enhancing mental health and well-being in ward 5. The project will reach 7000 youth and 4000 adult/caregivers. The demographics of the population are primarily hispanic but will reach african-americans and caucasians. The goals include; increase youth perception of risk/harm of substances.increase adult perception of the harm of drugs.to increase mental health education and provide strategies and interventions for improving mental well-being, to increase awareness and access to mental health, healthcare, and grief support services. A few objectives are:by september 2029, 5,000 youth will participate in an evidenced based strategy or program that will increase the perception of harm of alcohol and marijuana with youth ages 8 to 17 by 10% as measured by a pre/post survey.by september 2029, 2,500 parents/caregiver will participate in an evidenced based strategy or program that increases parental disapproval of the risks/harm of underage drinking, opioids and marijuana by 5% as measured by pre/post survey.by september 2029, 1,600 english and spanish speaking parents/caregivers will participate in mental health education workshops that increase knowledge, awareness and attitudes by 10% on mental health, early warning signs, self-care strategies, mental health crisis, and local and national resources for mental health as measured by pre/post survey.by september 2029, 1,600 english and spanish speaking parents/caregivers will increase knowledge of community resources and accessing services by 10% measured by pre/post survey.