Washington, D.C.-  Today, Congressman Brian Baird (D-WA-03) announced $250,000 in federal funding is coming to Southwest Washington to fund programs that help prevent and reduce substance abuse among children.  The WellSpring Community Network and the Longview Anti Drug Coalition will each receive $125,000 as part of the Drug Free Communities Program.

"Since I founded the Congressional Caucus to Control and Fight Methamphetamine, we have been able to make substantial gains in fighting the drug problem in Southwest Washington, particularly among children," said Congressman Baird.  "The Drug Free Communities Program provides communities the resources needed to reach out to children and young adults, and to better communicate the message that meth and other drugs are a one way ticket to nowhere."

The money will help fund general operations for community based organizations that involve and engage their local communities to prevent and reduce drug and alcohol abuse among children and young adults.  Each community must match every federal dollar it receives.

Nationwide, Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), announced $21 million in new Drug Free Communities (DFC) grants to 161 communities across the country and ten new DFC Mentoring grants.  These grantees were selected from 417 applicants through a competitive peer review process. To qualify for matching grants, all awardees must have at least a six-month history of working together on substance abuse reduction initiatives, have representation from 12 specific sectors of the community, develop a long-term plan to reduce substance abuse, and participate in a national evaluation of the DFC program.

The DFC program was created by the Drug Free Communities Act of 1997, and was reauthorized by Congress in 2001 and 2006. Since 1998, ONDCP has awarded approximately 1,500 Drug-Free Communities grants to local communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, Palau, American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands.