Healthy Acadia announces third year of mini-grant opportunities for community partners to expand youth substance use prevention initiatives

Healthy Acadia is thrilled to announce the launch of its third year of mini-grant funding opportunities available to community partners working with youth. The Downeast Maine Partnerships for Success initiative, coordinated by Healthy Acadia, is a collaborative effort to prevent youth substance use across Washington and Hancock counties, with a focus on alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use prevention. Mini-grants awarded will support community-driven, collective efforts to prevent substance use and promote the health and well-being of youth aged 9 to 20 years throughout the region. 

Healthy Acadia and Downeast Maine Partnerships for Success will provide mini-grant sub-awards of $1,000 to $10,000 to community groups, such as schools, community centers, and non-profit organizations, that seek to provide new opportunities that support positive social development, resilience, peer-based mental health support, and/or structured, pro-social activities to support substance use prevention for youth. 

“I am so excited to see more projects in Hancock and Washington counties with the opportunities this funding creates to provide support and create positive social interactions and activities for youth,” said Sara McConnell, PFS initiative coordinator. “In the last two years, we awarded 28 amazing projects that reached youth and communities throughout the region during a time when support and opportunities were so needed: new after-school programs, virtual and in-person summer camps, outdoor recreation opportunities with corresponding equipment, mental health first aid training, and so much more.”