Middletown prevention council - since 2021, the middletown prevention council (MPC) serving the city of middletown in central connecticut has been guided by the strategic prevention framework…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded Rushford Center, Inc. $125,000 through the Drug-Free Communities Support Program Grants (CFDA 93.276) on July 1, 2026.

Rushford Center supports the Middletown Prevention Council (MPC), which operates a community coalition in Middletown, Connecticut applying the Strategic Prevention Framework to prevent substance use among youth. The MPC employs seven interconnected prevention strategies: providing information, enhancing skills, providing support, enhancing access and reducing barriers, changing consequences, modifying the physical environment, and influencing policy. The coalition identified marijuana and alcohol as priority substances based on the 2024 Student Youth Voice Counts Survey and middle and high school consumption data. A critical focus area is parent-child communication on substance use risks, where survey data found only 25 percent of Middletown parents had discussed substance use risks with their children, well below national benchmarks of approximately 90 percent for alcohol and 68 percent for marijuana.

The Drug-Free Communities Support Program aims to establish and strengthen collaborations supporting community coalitions working to prevent and reduce substance use among youth. Grant awards under this program support cooperative agreements with performance periods of one to five years.

The award period runs from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2031, with performance in Middletown, Connecticut.

Middletown prevention council - since 2021, the middletown prevention council (MPC) serving the city of middletown in central connecticut has been guided by the strategic prevention framework (SPF)-a proven model for community-level change. When MPC received its first state-funded prevention in connecticut communities (PPC) grant, we committed to doing prevention work the right way: grounded in evidence, informed by data, and built on community partnerships. Our prevention work operates across multiple interconnected strategies: 1) providing information, 2) enhancing skills, 3) providing support, 4) enhancing access and reducing barriers, 5) changing consequences, 6) modifying the physical environment, and 7) influencing policy. This comprehensive, multi-strategy approach ensures we address substance use prevention from every angle-individual, family, school, and community-creating lasting change that protects middletown's youth. According to the 2024 student youth voice counts survey, marijuana and alcohol have been identified as priority substances for prevention in middletown. This finding is reinforced by consumption data from middle and high school surveys and focus groups with high school students. A troubling GAP exists in parent-child communication. Recent survey data found that 25% of middletown parents had not discussed substance use risks with their children-far below national benchmarks showing approximately 90% of parents discuss alcohol and 68% discuss marijuana with their kids. Research published in the journal of child and family studies indicates that effective parent messaging typically covers the dangers of use, the risks of impaired driving, and the importance of avoiding rides with users. Middletown's significantly lower rate of parent-child communication represents a critical vulnerability that demands immediate attention through targeted prevention programming. With support from the CDC's drug-free communities grant, the MPC expects to improve community knowledge of the local patterns of youth marijuana, and alcohol misuse, and actions to prevent them. Furthermore, we will increase the perception of risk and harm towards marijuana, vape devices and alcohol among middletown youth and increase the ability, and opportunity for youth to access programs that emphasize self- efficacy and learning skills that prevent substance misuse. We will increase active collaboration and capacity building with middletown public schools, the MPC, and community partners and the decrease the availability of vapes, marijuana and alcohol for youth in the middletown community. Through this funding we will be able to establish and strengthen collaboration among community members and organizations to address youth substance use, reduce substance use among youth, and over time reduce substance use among adults.