The martinsburg initiative's strategic prevention framework partnership for success project - the goal of the martinsburg initiative (TMI), a police, school, community, health, and education…

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded The Martinsburg Initiative, Inc., $1,239,089 on September 30, 2025, under the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.492).

The Martinsburg Initiative will implement evidence-based programs and practices to prevent youth substance use among ages 9–20 in Berkeley County, West Virginia, targeting reduction of alcohol, marijuana, prescription drug, and opioid use among at-risk populations. Work is performed in Martinsburg, West Virginia, through a multi-sector partnership involving police, schools, community health, and education agencies. The project applies a multi-tiered system of supports—primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention—to identify risk factors through risk stratification and provide tailored interventions that promote resilience and mitigate adverse childhood experiences. The award funds activity through September 29, 2030.

The martinsburg initiative's strategic prevention framework partnership for success project - the goal of the martinsburg initiative (TMI), a police, school, community, health, and education partnership, in this samsha funded project, is to expand prevention towards youth substance use specifically among youth ages 9-20 by implementing evidence-based programs (EBP) and practices in local youth-serving agencies, the school system, and higher education in berkeley county, west virginia. Specifically, this project seeks to reduce alcohol, marijuana, prescription drugs, and opioid use among at-risk populations in our county. This project will serve berkeley county, west virginia, the state's second largest, fastest-growing county. Current population figures are estimated to be 136,287 (census 2024). Within the total berkeley county population, 85.9% are white, 6.7% are hispanic, 8.5% are black or african american, 1.4% are asian, 0.4% are american indian and 3.7% listed as other. The percent of this population is 50.1% female and 49.9% male. The city of martinsburg has a population of 18,935. In martinsburg, 70.2% are white, 8% hispanic, 14% are black or african american, .97% are asian, .2% are american indian with 11.7% being designated as two or more races or another race. The language spoken at home other than english is at 6.7%. This area has a higher poverty rate of 23% as compared to the total berkeley county WV poverty rate of 11.3% and west virginia's poverty rate of 16.8%. The martinsburg initiative (TMI) seeks to mitigate the lasting negative effects of aces for local youth and prevent youth substance use by identifying risk factors through risk stratification and providing tailored evidence-based interventions to promote resilience and reduce unwarranted long-term negative psychosocial and health outcomes. TMI's model of goals and objectives are accomplished through a multi-tiered system of supports including primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. In this project, TMI would annually case-manage 300 at-risk students, provide substance use education to 200 parents, and provide prevention and awareness education to all 6,139 students in the city of martinsburg. Throughout the life of this five-year project, TMI would case-manage 1500 at-risk students, provide substance use education to 1,000 parents, and provide prevention and awareness education to cumulatively 30,795 students. Additionally, the TMI community coalition will work with berkeley county schools, local agencies, medical providers, and community to reduce health disparities among area families. Goal 1 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. Objective 1: to reduce 30-day alcohol use for youth ages 9-20 by 5%, objective 2: to reduce 30-day marijuana use for youth ages 9-20 by 5%, objective 3: to reduce 30-day prescription drug and opioid use for youth ages 9-20 by 5%, and objective 4: to increase perception of risk of alcohol and marijuana among youth and parents by 3%. Goal 2 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. Objective 1: partner organizations will promote the coalition's prevention and intervention services to their constituents, objective 2: the coalition membership will be knowledgeable on the strategic prevention framework and strategies to prevent youth substance abuse, and objective 3: the coalition will leverage its collective resources to increase funding for prevention programming.