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Funding News
$10.5 million in Drug-Free
Communities (DFC) grants was awarded in August 2006 to 107
communities across the country. An additional $58.8 million
was made available to support the continuation of awards to
602 existing community coalition projects operating in 49
states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The goal
of the 709 local coalitions is to work together to prevent
and reduce drug, alcohol, and tobacco abuse among youth.
DFC is a collaborative
initiative sponsored by the Office of National Drug Control
Policy (ONDCP) in partnership with the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in order to
achieve two major goals:
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Establish and strengthen collaboration among
communities, private nonprofit agencies, and Federal,
State, local, and tribal governments to support the
efforts of community coalitions to prevent and reduce
substance abuse among youth.
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Reduce substance abuse among youth and, over time, among
adults by addressing the factors in a community that
increase the risk of substance abuse and promoting the
factors that minimize the risk of substance abuse.
(Substances include, but are not limited to, narcotics,
depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, cannabis,
inhalants, alcohol, and tobacco, where their use is
prohibited by Federal, State, or local law.) Note:
DFC projects must focus on multiple drugs of abuse. When
the term “drug” or “substance” is used in this funding
announcement, it is intended to include all of the above
drugs.
The Drug-Free Communities
Program (DFC) was created by the Drug-Free Communities Act,
1997 (Public Law 105-20), reauthorized through the Drug-Free
Communities Reauthorization Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-82)
and reauthorized again through the Office of National Drug
Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 (Public Law
109-469). The latest reauthorization extended the program
for an additional five years until 2012.
Since 1998, ONDCP has
awarded approximately 1,200 DFC grants, with an additional
60 new awards expected in FY 2007, subject to the
appropriation of funds. (Applications were due April 17,
2007.) The community sites that have been awarded grants
represent a cross-section of communities from every region
in the nation and include rural, urban, suburban, and tribal
communities. The program has given priority to economically
disadvantaged areas or counties in which 20 percent or more
of the children are living in a household below the poverty
line, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Additional grantee
information is available on the DFC web site
www.ondcp.gov/dfc.
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