Drug Free Communities Mentoring Program

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The Executive Office of the President, Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) are accepting applications for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 Drug Free Communities Mentoring Program (DFC Mentoring) grants. The purpose of this program is to provide grant funds to existing DFC grantees, so that they may serve as Mentors to newly-formed and/or developing coalitions that have never received a DFC grant. The Drug Free Communities (DFC) Support Program was created by the Drug Free Communities Act, 1997 (Public Law 105-20). DFC Mentoring grants were established as a component of the DFC Support Program when the program was reauthorized in 2001 (Public Law 107-82, 115 Stat. 814). The DFC Mentoring Program was also included in the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-469). The latest reauthorization extended the program until 2012. This announcement addresses Healthy People 2020 Substance Abuse Topic Area HP 2020-40. The primary goal of the Mentoring grant is to assist newly forming coalitions in becoming eligible to apply for DFC funding on their own. It is the intent of the DFC Mentoring Program that, at the end of the Mentoring grant, each Mentee coalition will meet all of the Statutory Eligibility Requirements of the DFC Program and will be fully prepared to compete for the DFC grant on their own. Grantees will be expected to achieve this goal by implementing the following objectives: (1) Strengthen Mentee coalition’s organizational structure; (2) Increase Mentee coalition’s leadership and community readiness to address youth substance use problems in the Mentee community; and (3) Assist the Mentee coalition in working through a strategic planning process that will result in a comprehensive community Action Plan. In addition to and through the DFC Mentoring Program, Mentor coalition will develop mentoring activities that will support and encourage the development of the Mentee coalition(s) that are focused on the prevention of youth substance use. Funding through this grant is intended to provide the Mentee coalition with the training and technical assistance necessary to ensure formation of a strong community coalition. Coalitions that have been awarded DFC Mentoring grants represent a cross-section of communities from every region in the Nation. In FY 2010, ONDCP awarded 16 new DFC Mentoring Grants and 7 Mentoring Continuation grants. More information about DFC and DFC Mentoring grants can be found on the DFC Website: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/dfc.

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