Free to Grow: Head Start Partnerships to Promote Substance-Free Communities

The Foundation's program, Free To Grow: Head Start Partnerships to Promote Substance-Free Communities, was designed to support selected Head Start agencies to adapt and evaluate innovative substance abuse prevention models that aim to strengthen a young child's environment, specifically the family and community. The targeted area for the St. Mary Free to Grow initiative is Four Corners, Glencoe, and Sorrell. Logistically, all three communities are interrelated based upon family or generational relations; they are all located within a ten-mile radius; and each share the same racial, social, economic, and physical characteristics. The purpose of this project is to empower local surrounding communities to partner, or link, available resources in an effort to stimulate the awareness of, and participation in, organized community assessments and anti-drug coalitions, as well as increase the number of families receiving innovative, effective substance abuse treatment. The St. Mary Head Start Free to Grow program approach has a comprehensive focus that helps the Head Start program develop and strengthen collaborative partnerships with other public and private organizations that seek to build healthy, sustainable family relationships with resource providers that are necessary for them to survive and become self-sufficient. It fosters strong leadership and guidance in order to maintain a systematic framework that utilizes family and community prevention strategies to avoid or alleviate potential substance abuse, child abuse, and neglect situations.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $192,000.00

Awarded on: 6/4/2002

Time frame: 6/1/2002 - 9/30/2005

Grant Number: 45323