Florida Atlantic University is receiving a $3 million dollar grant to tackle substance use among at-risk youth in Broward and Palm Beach counties.
The grant from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will focus on Broward and Palm Beach youth who are aging out of foster care, living in rural poverty or experiencing housing insecurity, according to Maria Carmenza Mejia, the program's leader and a professor of population health at FAU.
The program will partner with groups like the FLITE Center in Fort Lauderdale and Empower Healthcare in the Glades region of Palm Beach County. By doing so, Mejia said, the project team can use their data and focus on identified at-risk youth, who are more likely to turn to substances due to trauma. The program can then be flexible to meet their complex needs.
" Whether that's housing, whether that's getting a job, whether it is just learning how to fill the taxes, right? So all these little nuances that we don't think about," Mejia said, "So we need to tailor some of these interventions to all of them."
The program is titled "Rising Strong: Empowering Youth for Substance-Free Futures," and is aiming to serve at least 600 young people annually and 3,000 over the five-year project period, according to the project abstract.
The 2024 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey found that alcohol and drug use among Broward and Palm Beach teens has trended down in the past decade.
Still, one in 10 surveyed Broward middle and high school students reported vaping nicotine in their lifetimes. Over a quarter of surveyed Palm Beach middle and high school students reported they drank alcohol in their lifetimes, slightly higher than the statewide average.
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Mejia said those numbers are likely worse for young people exiting foster care, who are more likely than peers to develop a drug dependency or abuse alcohol. Combine that with areas like the Glades, which include Belle Glade and Pahokee, where youth poverty rates are at nearly 40%, the risk is greater, Mejia said.
" These numbers just highlight why we urgently need to reach vulnerable youth early before substance use begins and provide them with the tools and support they need to thrive," she said.
The federal grant will allow the small FAU team to start by assessing community needs and training providers and mentors on interventions that are proven to work.
Those include teaching "life skills, mindfulness, and emotional regulation strategies, conducting SBIRT screenings for at least 350 youth, and expanding access to behavioral health services through FLITE Center," the project abstract stated.
Mejia said the program will also set up a youth advisory board to guide decision-making.
The grant was awarded on Sept. 25, and the project is expected to begin in six months to a year.
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