The Brazos Valley Council on Alcohol and Substance Abuse (BVCASA) was awarded more than $1.2 million annually for five years in state and federal funds.
Sarah Sanchez, Public Relationships Coordinator, says three of the grants will be used for prevention education.
“Reduce substance use among our target population, and when I say substance use, I’m talking about reduction of marijuana, tobacco, prescription pills and underage drinking,” says Sanchez.
With the funds, Sanchez says they can deliver curriculum to elementary, middle and high school students.
“A lot of what the curriculum pinpoints is goal-setting and working on self-esteem and talking about your future, and what it would look like if you did decide to engage in substance abuse and how that would affect your plans and your future,” says Sanchez.
The funds will also support community coalitions.
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News release courtesy of BVCASA:
The Brazos Valley Council on Alcohol and Substance Abuse received notification from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) that they have been awarded $1,216,235 annually for five years in State and Federal funds to support school-based education programs and community coalitions designed to prevent underage alcohol use, tobacco and nicotine products use, marijuana and other cannabinoid use, and prescription drug misuse. For the first time in many years, BVCASA received funds to conduct evidence-based curriculum education across the 7 counties in elementary schools. They also received funds to conduct the All Stars curriculum for middle schools and the Towards No Drugs curriculum in high schools. “We are very excited to receive funding to conduct these excellent programs. Especially the Too Good For Drugs curriculum for elementary school youth,” stated Mary Mattingly, the Director of Prevention Services at BVCASA. “We are thrilled to be able to offer evidence-based education to all school-aged youth in our seven counties, as well as continue the implementation of three community-based coalitions and our Prevention Resource Center (PRC).”
“Our community coalitions include VKOT or Vikings Kicking Out Tobacco and other Drugs of Abuse coalition, conducted at Bryan High School, the Blinn Community Coalition at Blinn College, and the Zero Tolerance Coalition at Hearne High School. The PRC will serve 30-counties by providing services like producing an annual needs assessment, coordinating trainings on a variety of topics, conducting tobacco compliance checks, and promoting media messages to prevent drug use. The BVCASA Prevention Staff have extensive knowledge on a wide variety of drug prevention topics and are happy to conduct educational sessions whenever contacted,” stated Mattingly. “Just give us a call at 979-846-3560 and ask for someone in the Prevention Department.”