Prevention Works!

Grant Program Targets Youth at High Risk for Substance Use

Substance use is one of the most challenging health and social problems in the United States, where it is more pervasive than in any other industrialized nation. Early involvement with any drug is a risk factor for later drug use and criminal activity. The more severe the early involvement, the greater the risk that antisocial behaviors will emerge in the future. Because early use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs has been linked to later substance use, young people are a key target for prevention efforts.

To help reach this target audience, CSAP initiated the High Risk Youth (HRY) Demonstration Grant Program in 1986. The program awards grants to community-based organizations, universities, and local agencies. To date, the HRY Demonstration Grant Program has funded more than 300 local demonstration programs throughout the country that target youth in families and communities at high risk.

Risk Factors

CSAP defines youth at high risk for alcohol and drug problems as individuals under the age of 21 who have one or more of these factors in common (these risk factors were identified by Congress, then incorporated into CSAP material):

• Parents who abuse alcohol or drugs
• Physical, sexual, or psychological abuse
• Dropping out of school
• Teen pregnancy
• Economic disadvantage
• Neighborhood crime and violence
• Preadolescent and adolescent gang activity
• Involvement in violence or delinquency
• Suicide attempts or other mental health problems
• Placement in institutions, foster care, or runaway or homeless shelters

Youth at high risk tend to live in settings where they are exposed to multiple risks, and tend to come from families with multiple problems.

The HRY Demonstration Grant Program identifies effective strategies in preventing substance abuse among youth. Eight "model" prevention programs have been selected as being well implemented, producing positive effects, and conducting rigorous evaluations.

The Eight Model Programs

• Across Ages
• SMART Leaders
• Child Development Project
• Dare To Be You
• Greater Alliance of Prevention Systems
• Creating Lasting Connections
• FAN Club
• Residential Student Assistance Program

These model programs vary in form and function. The programs use a variety of prevention strategies; target age groups across childhood, adolescence, and adulthood; target a number of ethnic groups; and represent universal, selective, and indicated prevention efforts. Although the eight HRY model programs are diverse, three unifying themes are evident:

• Each of the programs promoted supportive and caring relationships between youth and members of their families, their communities, and their peer groups.
• Each of the programs implemented multifaceted interventions targeting the specific needs of its audiences.
• Each of the programs was successful in either increasing the latency of first alcohol, tobacco, and drug use, reducing the frequency of alcohol, tobacco, and drug use, or effectively reducing risk factors and/or enhancing protective factors related to the development of substance use.

With an increasing emphasis placed on evaluation and specific program outcomes, the HRY Demonstration Grant Program has shown that a wide range of approaches to dealing with the problems of youth at high risk can be effective. For more information on the HRY Demonstration Grant Program contact SAMHSA’s National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information at 1-800-729-6686 or at http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/.

To receive a complimentary copy of this PreventionAlert, call SAMSHA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) @ 1-800-729-6686, TDD 1-800-487-4889 (for the hearing impaired.) PREVENTIONAlert is supported by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and may be copied without permission with appropriate citation. For information about PREVENTIONAlert, please contact CSAP by phone (301) 443-0581 or e-mail gensley@samhsa.gov

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