CE26-0208 - youth for change - "youth for change program" will provide strategies and activities for the prevention of substance use/misuse in anderson, indiana

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded $125,000 to Minority Health Coalition of Madison County, Inc. on July 1, 2026, under the Drug-Free Communities Support Program (CFDA 93.276) to establish and strengthen community coalitions addressing youth substance use in Anderson, Indiana.

The "Youth for Change" program will deploy seven community-level change strategies—providing information, changing access, enhancing skills, changing consequences, providing support, changing policies, and changing physical design—to prevent substance use and misuse among youth and adults. The initiative targets alcohol, cannabis, prescription drugs, and fentanyl, with particular focus on youth engagement and community norm shift. The program will engage youth, parents, educators, businesses, colleges, and community stakeholders in collaborative substance abuse reduction work. Performance of the award covers Indiana, with a period of performance from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2031. The assistance type is a Project Grant with an expectation of substantial community volunteer effort and a 100–150 percent cash or in-kind match requirement.

Youth and adults will have the opportunity to gain knowledge and insight of the harms caused by consuming alcohol, cannabis, prescription drugs/fentanyl, but more importantly learn ways in which they can help our community eliminate this epidemic. Alcohol and illicit drugs have plagued many indiana communities including anderson and will take a coalition of partnerships, stakeholders, parents, educators, businesses, colleges, youth, etc. To change community norms regarding the consumption of alcohol and illicit drugs. The project will use the seven strategies for community level change-providing information, changing access, enhancing skills, changing consequences, providing support, changing policies and changing physical design to help community member better understand the consequences of substance use/misuse on the health and wellness of our community. The drug free communities will make IT possible for "youth for change" to focus on reducing substance use/misuse within the community with a focus on youth. 2022 data from the indiana youth survey, also, revealed that 4.5% of 6TH graders in madison county had used alcohol in the last 30 days, which is higher than the state's percentage of 4%. In addition, 6.6 % of 7TH graders in our area admitted alcohol use in the last 30 days compared to the state's rate of 5.8%. The aim of this project is to establish and strengthen collaboration among community stakeholders and organizations to address youth substance use and reduce substance use among youth and, over time, reduce substance use among adults by addressing the factors in a community that increase the risk of substance use and promoting the factors that minimize the risk of substance use.