Sierra Health Foundation Announces Youth SUD Prevention Program Funding Opportunity

The Center at the Sierra Health Foundation recently announced a request for applications (RFA) for $20 million in funding and technical assistance for organizations that are developing or increasing community substance use disorder (SUD) prevention, outreach, and education focused on youth. The Center was awarded the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Proposition 64 Youth Substance Use Disorder Prevention Program contract and seeks to prioritize youth education, prevention, and early intervention efforts to connect youth and their families to programs that include wraparound care in communities disproportionately harmed by past and current drug policies and criminalized for SUD.

Grants of up to $1 million per project will fund organizations working with youth ages 12 to 26 years old in urban and rural areas of the state, particularly communities of color disproportionately impacted by the war drugs. Funding will support projects through November 2022. Eligible organizations applying for funding must take the following approaches: 1) Invest in youth leadership and development; 2) Provide services and support through the cultural lens of the impacted community; and 3) Promote population-level impacts through policy, systems, and environmental change (PSE).

A webinar for prospective applicants to review the RFA will be held on Friday, January 10 from 10:00 am to 11:30 am. Applications are due by Thursday, February 6 at 1:00 pm. The full RFA is available here. Additional information on the funding opportunity, including webinar registration, is available here.