Virginia Beach uses opioid-abatement funds to roll out LEAD curriculum, outreach trailer

Virginia Beach officials say they have used Opioid Abatement Authority (OAA) settlement funds to buy the LEAD (Law Enforcement Against Drugs and Violence) prevention curriculum, a community engagement vehicle and a trailer to support school-based and public outreach programs.

"Today's presentation is gonna focus on the topic of defining the roles for law enforcement in school-based prevention programs," Tony McDowell, executive director of the Opioid Abatement Authority, said at the webinar introducing the effort. City staff and police described the local rollout and how the funds were budgeted and tracked.

Jim Thornton, clinical services administrator for the City of Virginia Beach Child and Youth Behavioral Health division, said the city pooled its individual distribution and gold-standard OAA incentives and had "about $1,200,000 available" by the end of FY24. Thornton said the city submitted roughly $635,000 across six projects in its first application round and designated $30,000 for LEAD curriculum purchases, with an added $15,000 contribution from the school system for that line item.

Lieutenant Kevin Lokey, commanding officer of the Virginia Beach Police Department Youth Services Unit, described the unit's work and the program timetable. "We formed this unit in January 2023 to really engage with the youth," Lokey said, noting the city has 85 public schools served by 28 school resource officers (SROs). He said the team will start LEAD instruction with sixth graders at four middle schools in 2025-26, add four more the following year and expand to the remainder after that.

City officials said they selected LEAD because it is grade-specific, script-based and supported by third-party evaluation. Thornton summarized that LEAD's evaluation included pretest, posttest and one-year follow-up and that the program showed sustained changes in how students perceive drug use, violence and bullying.

Officials described other purchases and outreach tactics funded by the grant. Year-one police costs for the city included $90,000 for the Ford Expedition SUV, trailer and a mascot; $30,000 for the LEAD kits; and $20,000 for promotional "SWAG" and materials. The team wrapped the expedition and trailer with LEAD branding, debuted the trailer at community events such as National Night Out, and used interactive draws (video games, freeze pops, board games, a popcorn machine and photo props) to attract youth and distribute educational materials.

Lokey said the department trained 26 SROs and Youth Services officers in a two-day LEAD course and piloted an evening "LEAD and board games" program that drew middle school students and parents; he said every parent who attended that pilot completed the classes alongside their children. The city also taught the LEAD high-school curriculum at three summer camps in July to about 60 students.

On measurement, Lokey said the SROs will track participation, age groups and event contacts using spreadsheets and the evaluation instruments included with the LEAD kits. Thornton noted the kits come with evaluation forms and other tools the city plans to use to report outcomes.

Looking ahead, Lokey said the program's outreach will expand to homeschool families and that LEAD will be taught in the juvenile detention center beginning in early 2026 to reach teens in custody. Officials also said they hope to be able to distribute Narcan from the outreach vehicle in the future.

The Opioid Abatement Authority webinar materials, including the recording and PowerPoint slides, will be posted on the OAA website and shared by email to registrants. City officials offered contact information for the LEAD regional director and for local staff to help other jurisdictions interested in implementing the program.