The White House Announces Funding for 645 Community Coalitions Working to Prevent Youth Substance Use

Funding Supports President Biden’s Strategy to Beat the Overdose Epidemic Through Evidence-Based Primary Prevention Efforts

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, the White House Office of National Drug Policy (ONDCP) announced approximately $81 million for 645 local coalitions across the country as part of the Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program Continuation Grant Awards. The grants will provide funding to community coalitions working to prevent youth substance use by supporting individuals and communities in their work to help prevent youth use of counterfeit pills, meth, marijuana, and other substances. President Biden’s National Drug Control Strategy emphasizes the importance of evidence-based efforts to prevent and reduce youth substance use through primary prevention, including by addressing adverse childhood experiences.

“This funding supports President Biden’s Unity Agenda call to beat the overdose epidemic by providing proven community programs with the resources they need,” said Dr. Rahul Gupta, Director of ONDCP. “We know that preventing youth substance greatly decreases the chances of a young person developing a substance use disorder. Moreover, research shows that youth substance use decreases significantly in communities with a DFC coalition. Investing in young people is a critical piece of our collective work to make communities healthier and safer.”

The full list of this year’s new and competing continuation grantees, click here.

Background on the DFC Support Program

The DFC Support Program, created by the Drug-Free Communities Act of 1997, is the Nation’s leading effort to mobilize communities to prevent youth substance use. Directed by ONDCP in partnership with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the DFC Program provides grants to community coalitions to strengthen the infrastructure among local partners to create and sustain a reduction in local youth substance use.

DFC-funded coalitions engage multiple sectors of the community and employ a variety of environmental strategies to address local substance use problems.  DFCs involve local communities in finding solutions and helps youth at risk for substance use, recognizing the majority of our Nation’s youth choose not to use substances.

In 2021 under the Biden-Harris Administration, a total of 745 community coalitions in all 50 states received over $93 million through ONDCP’s Drug-Free Communities program grants. This represented the largest single-year investment in the program’s history. These DFC-funded community coalitions served communities with an estimated 57 million people, or 18% of the population of the United States.

DFC-funded coalitions continue to lead the way in preventing youth substance use in communities across the Nation. They are engaged in a broad range of practices that moves from community mobilization and awareness to community action and ultimately community outcomes. The Biden-Harris Administration has already taken significant actions to address the overdose and opioid epidemic.

Read the Biden-Harris Administration’s inaugural National Drug Control Strategy HERE.

Read the fact sheet on the Strategy HERE.

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