WASHINGTON –
U.S. Senators Benjamin L. Cardin and
Barbara A. Mikulski (both D-MD) today announced that the Drug Free Caroline Coalition will receive a $96,767 Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Mentoring Program grant.

The Drug Free Caroline Coalition, which is located in Denton, will use the funds to reduce substance abuse among youth and adults in Caroline County.
  The Coalition will use the grant to implement an education strategy and media campaign, facilitate the creation of a Youth Council to provide peer-to-peer interaction, and support pro-social youth alternatives.

 “We need to strengthen efforts to keep our youth drug-free,” said Senator Cardin. “The Drug-Free Communities Program focuses on community efforts to educate kids about the dangers of substance abuse and to provide them with alternative activities. This new funding will provide resources to help Caroline County mobilize and organize community efforts to prevent and reduce substance abuse.”

“This funding is a federal investment in keeping our communities strong and thriving – to prevent lost youth, and lost opportunity. These drug-free community coalitions give our young people positive alternatives to substance abuse,” said Senator Mikulski.  “I will continue to fight to keep drugs out of our communities, because we can’t afford to lose any more of our young people to drug use.”

The DFC program provides grants of up to $500,000 over five years to community organizations that facilitate citizen participation in local drug prevention efforts. Ninety new grantees were selected from 321 applicants through a competitive peer review process. To qualify for matching grants, all awardees must have at least a six-month history of working together on substance abuse prevention initiatives, develop a long-term plan to reduce substance abuse, and participate in a national evaluation of the Drug-Free Communities Program.