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Portsmouth youth coalition outlines grant-supported mental-health and substance-use efforts
Summary
The Greater Portsmouth Youth Wellness Coalition summarized results from a decade of coalition work — including a Drug-Free Communities grant, STOP grant and local matching funds — and described school and community programs to prevent youth substance use.
The Greater Portsmouth Youth Wellness Coalition reported to the City Council on Sept. 24 on recent grants and local initiatives aimed at preventing youth substance use and expanding mental-health supports.
Coalition leaders described a funding and program history that began with a 2019 City Council $4,000 matching grant and grew through matching city support and outside foundations into a multi-year effort that produced a Drug-Free Communities (DFC) grant and other funding streams, presenters said. The DFC grant is a 10-year federal grant that can be renewed for a second five-year period.
“By addressing youth substance use now, we're making a vital investment in our children's future,” Amy Michaels, director of the Greater Portsmouth Youth Wellness Coalition, told councilors, summarizing the coalition’s public-health rationale. Michaels and coalition partners listed local successes including a middle-school PSA about safe medication storage, distribution of free medicine lock boxes at community events, teacher and staff training in Youth Mental Health First Aid at LFTR Academy and peer-delivered teen mental health first aid for students.
Presenters credited early City Council matching funds for catalyzing the coalition’s ability to secure larger outside grants. A coalition speaker said subsequent local and foundation support topped “over $600,000” and enabled program expansion in youth education, prevention and community outreach. The coalition also reported compliance checks with the State Liquor Commission and the Portsmouth Police Department and physical safety improvements at local basketball courts.
Councilors thanked coalition leaders and noted the programs align with prior small-city investments the council made to seed community-based public-health efforts. No additional council funding requests were made at the Sept. 24 meeting; presenters said more outreach and volunteer participation will support planned events, including a parent workshop scheduled Oct. 6.
