The $526,000 award will help PEP create the Shield project. Shield is a concept of community ownership and safety that will protect youth and their families, will empower them to address the effects of substance use disorder and partner with their communities to effect positive change. The project is focused on helping youth disproportionately affected during the opioid epidemic in the region. The initiative will assist youth by providing access to and increasing selective and indicated prevention services, early intervention, outreach, and treatment services and supports.
The project will develop and implement a comprehensive, data-driven coordinated plan to address challenges resulting from the opioid crisis that affects youth, their families and their communities. The Shield project will reduce traumatic stress for youth who have been impacted by opioid use disorder in the region. PEP and its partners will accomplish this by integrating evidence-based prevention, intervention, diversion, problem identification and treatment services for children and their families. Through education, PEP will increase the capacity of community organizations to better identify and serve youth and families and connect them with established service systems.
Angela Saunders is director of the Prevention Empowerment Partnership, which started at the United Way of the River Cities before moving to the Center of Excellence for Recovery at the Marshall University Research Corporation at the beginning of 2022.
“We were thrilled to receive this funding and began work on assessment, collaboration and planning immediately,” Saunders said. “This grant allows the work of the previous Cabell County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, started under the fiscal umbrella of the United Way of the River Cities, to continue to expand to include comprehensive prevention, intervention, outreach and more.”
PEP is a collaborative committee of community-based organizations and community leaders that partner to increase access to prevention services for youth and families in the region. For more information, visit PEPWV.org on the web or PEPWV on Facebook, or contact Saunders by phone at 304-552-3528.