Unite for youth: growing hope across lincoln county

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded Lincoln County Unite For Youth Coalition Inc. $250,000 on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.492).

The recipient will implement Growing Hope Across Lincoln County, a five-year Strategic Prevention Framework-Partnerships for Success initiative to strengthen youth substance use prevention capacity in rural Lincoln County, Montana. The project targets youth ages 9–20 and the systems influencing their development, including families, schools, healthcare providers, behavioral health professionals, youth-serving organizations, law enforcement, public health agencies, and community leaders. Work will expand coalition and youth leadership capacity using strategies centered on hope, positive childhood experiences, developmental relationships, and positive community norms. The recipient will conduct comprehensive community assessment, resource assessment, and community readiness assessment; strengthen coalition functioning and prevention workforce capacity; and engage youth leadership. The project builds on fifteen years of measurable prevention success in the county, where recent data show declining youth substance use rates, though as of 2022 nearly 3 in 10 students reported past-30-day alcohol use and roughly 1 in 6 reported past-30-day marijuana use. Lincoln County is a rural and frontier county in northwest Montana with approximately 21,895 residents.

Performance extends from September 30, 2026, through September 29, 2031, with place of performance in Libby, Montana.

Abstract

Growing hope across lincoln county lincoln county unite for youth (UFY) proposes growing hope across lincoln county, a five-year samhsa strategic prevention framework-partnerships for success initiative to strengthen youth substance use prevention capacity in rural lincoln county, montana. Building on fifteen years of measurable prevention success, UFY will expand coalition and youth leadership capacity using hope, positive childhood experiences, developmental relationships, and positive community norms strategies. Lincoln county is a rural and frontier county in northwest montana with approximately 21,895 residents. The project's population of focus includes youth ages 9-20 and the systems that influence youth development, including families, schools, healthcare providers, behavioral health professionals, youth-serving organizations, law enforcement, public health agencies, and community leaders. Local prevention needs assessment (PNA) findings demonstrate substantial reductions in youth substance use over the past fifteen years, including declines in past-30-day alcohol use, early alcohol initiation, and early cigarette use. Even so, as of 2022 nearly 3 in 10 students reported past-30-day alcohol use and roughly 1 in 6 reported past-30-day marijuana use. Local assessment data also identify emerging concerns related to declining community-level protective factors, including supportive adult-youth relationships, neighborhood connectedness, opportunities for meaningful youth engagement, and perceptions of harm related to substance use. While family protective factors remain strong, additional prevention capacity is needed to sustain and accelerate these gains. Using the strategic prevention framework (SPF), UFY will conduct a comprehensive community assessment, resource assessment, and community readiness assessment; strengthen coalition functioning and prevention workforce capacity; engage youth through a youth advisory board; and develop strategic prevention, evaluation, implementation, and sustainability plans. The project will strengthen cross-sector collaboration among community partners and ensure meaningful youth participation in assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation, dissemination, and community outreach activities. UFY will also engage the prevention technology transfer center (PTTC), state prevention partners, and local stakeholders to strengthen prevention infrastructure and workforce competencies. The project's goal is to strengthen community prevention capacity and prevention infrastructure throughout lincoln county to reduce youth substance use and promote long-term youth well-being. By day 180, UFY and coalition partners will complete a community assessment, resource assessment, and community readiness assessment and adopt a strategic prevention plan, logic model, evaluation plan, and sustainability plan. By day 270, prevention implementation will launch, and by the close of the project period, UFY will have established a youth advisory board, expanded coalition partnership, and built the prevention workforce capacity needed to sustain reductions in youth substance use well beyond the grant period. Through assessment, capacity building, planning, implementation, evaluation, and sustainability activities, UFY will build upon more than fifteen years of demonstrated prevention success while strengthening the relationships, environments, leadership opportunities, and prevention systems necessary to elevate hope, resilience, and wellbeing for all young people growing up in lincoln county.