Newfound coalition for youth drug-free communities program - the newfound coalition for youth (NCFY) has partnered with cady, INC., to apply to the drug-free communities support program (DFC)

Cady is a 501(C)3 organization eligible to receive federal funds and serve as fiscal agent on behalf of NCFY. We will establish and grow a DFC coalition, and launch prevention strategies serving the newfound region of new hampshire (NH), comprised of the towns of alexandria, bridgewater, bristol, danbury, groton, hebron, hill and new hampton with a population of 12,025. Our mission is to build collaborative partnerships, working with our community to prevent and reduce youth substance misuse and promote healthy environments and promising futures. The NCFY grew out of a grass-roots rural health planning program launched by the newfound drug response task force in 2020, which identified a need for youth substance misuse prevention services in newfound. The goals of the coalition are to establish and strengthen community collaboration to focus on local efforts to prevent youth substance use. We will achieve our goals by implementing evidence-based environmental and targeted prevention strategies addressing prevention of youth alcohol and marijuana use. We will expand and strengthen our community coalition spanning all 12 community sectors. A cornerstone of our approach is to engage youth in school-based prevention programming and a youth advisory council focused on youth empowerment and skills-building. We will establish a parent advisory council to serve as a focal point for community-wide youth prevention education and outreach. Leveraging these collaborations, we will launch and disseminate comprehensive youth alcohol and marijuana prevention strategies through outreach, education, social and traditional media campaigns, youth activities, and community town halls and events. Our overarching goal is to reduce risk factors and promote protective factors for youth substance use, reducing use of alcohol and M arijuana among youth in the newfound community.