Johnson county prevention project will address youth alcohol and nicotine use by strengthening community collaboration and implementing evidence-based prevention programs, policies, and practices. -…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded Recovery Lighthouse $124,875 on July 1, 2026, under the Drug-Free Communities Support Program (CFDA 93.276) to establish and strengthen community collaboration in substance abuse prevention among youth.

The Johnson County Prevention Coalition, for which Recovery Lighthouse serves as fiscal agent, will implement evidence-based prevention programs, policies, and practices targeting youth ages 12–18 in Johnson County, Missouri. The project addresses youth alcohol and nicotine use while building capacity, collaboration, and infrastructure to support prevention efforts in rural and under-resourced communities. Johnson County has a population of 55,880 across 829.3 square miles with a population density of 67.4 persons per square mile, meeting federal rural classification criteria. The county experiences a poverty rate of 12.3%, above the national average of 11.6%.

The period of performance runs through June 30, 2031. The assistance type is a project grant, which under the Drug-Free Communities statute supports coalitions working to prevent and reduce youth substance abuse by addressing risk factors and promoting protective factors within communities. The program requires coalitions to demonstrate six months of prior collaboration, meet composition requirements, ensure substantial community volunteer effort, and provide 100–150 percent cash or in-kind match.

Johnson county prevention project will address youth alcohol and nicotine use by strengthening community collaboration and implementing evidence-based prevention programs, policies, and practices. - the johnson county prevention coalition (JCPC) is applying for the drug-free communities support program grant in the amount of $124,875. The communities served for this grant is johnson county youth 12-18 years of age. The johnson county prevention project will serve the county's rural and under-resourced communities, providing evidence-based prevention efforts with the goals of reducing youth alcohol and nicotine use, while also improving capacity, collaboration, and infrastructure at the community level to enhance the population. The JCPC mission statement is to reduce youth substance use in johnson county by addressing risk factors, promoting education, and fostering a supportive community. Recovery LIGHTHOUSE (LIGHTHOUSE) serves as the fiscal agent for the JCPC. Johnson county, with a population of 55,880, is classified as being an under-resourced community that is greatly impacted by substance use disorder due to the nature of the entire county being rural (as defined in executive order 13985 section 2). According to the U.S. Department of agriculture, rural areas have population densities less than 500 people/square mile. Johnson spans 829.3 MI2 and has 55,880 residents, therefore has a population density of 67.4 persons/MI2, federally defined as rural. Johnson is characterized by a relatively young population, with a median age of 31 years. The county's racial composition is predominantly white (90.12%), with smaller percentages of black (4.33%), native american (0.65%), asian (1.43%), pacific islander (0.13%), and individuals identifying as two or more races (2.05%). Additionally, approximately 2.92% of the population identifies as hispanic or latino. Additionally, johnson has a higher poverty rate (12.3%) than the U.S. (11.6%). Nearly 1 in 10 (9.2%) johnson children under 18 live in poverty, higher than missouri's 17% rate, and 9.3% of them are considered food insecure compared to 12.8% in missouri. Therefore, the entire community served have barriers to achieving optimal health and wellbeing that lead to gaps due to the rural and poverty-based conditions and these, along with the age-specific gaps, creating a need to address the substance use issues with the community served. One of the driving reasons for this grant proposal is that current use of substances among johnson county youth is higher than the missouri (MO) state average: 10.6% used alcohol (MO: 6.8%), 5.6% used cigarettes (MO: 2.2%), 16.6% used E-cigarettes (MO: 9.1%), 5.6% used chewing tobacco (2X MO rate: 2.2%), and 10% used marijuana (MO rate: 7.3%). The project will serve the population of youth ages 12-18 for alcohol and nicotine use. The project objectives include increasing the number of community coalition building strategies and other evidenced-based interventions based on the strategic prevention framework (SPF) and utilizing all 7 strategies for community change to address both alcohol and nicotine use by minors. Specific strategies and activities include evidence-based substance prevention curricula to youth, a community awareness campaign about the coalition as well as the dangers and consequences of alcohol/nicotine use, healthy alternative activities for youth, compliance check and party patrol operations with law enforcement around the time of key celebrations (prom, graduation etc), providing incentives and education to retailers, strengthening school policies regarding nicotine use on campus, passing a social host ordinance for alcohol, start a youth coalition, and coalition member recruitment and engagement to enhance community infrastructure and resources.