Project Grant H79SP085247

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded the Public Health Institute $600,000 on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.492) to implement the Youth Prevention Partnership Project for young adults with substance use risk in Alameda and San Francisco Counties, California.

The project delivers substance use prevention and early intervention services to young adults ages 18–29 through a navigation approach combining evidence-based practices and peer-support specialists. The Public Health Institute, in collaboration with Rouse Relational Wellness, a community mental health service agency in San Francisco, recruits participants via in-person and social media outreach and provides interventions including motivational engagement intervention and digital storytelling at individual and community levels. For consented participants, the project also delivers substance use and mental health treatment based on evidence-based practices. Work is performed in Oakland, California.

The project establishes measurable objectives spanning needs assessment, community partnership, and recruitment activities: conducting a literature review identifying at least ten risk and protective factors; executing five focus groups to identify service gaps and confirm three prevention priorities; identifying at least three high-risk sub-populations; establishing points of contact with at least five youth-serving and five state and community prevention programs; partnering with twenty-two community-based agencies; and recruiting twenty Youth Advisory Committee members, twenty-four Community Advisory Board members, and sixteen Community Ambassadors.

The period of performance runs through September 29, 2031.