PHILADELPHIA – December 12, 2019 – State Senator Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia/Montgomery) announced $1,429,334 in grants to a number of programs aimed at helping victims of abuse and those with substance use disorders.
Sen. Hughes thanked the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) for administering the grants and supporting worthy programs in the 7th Senatorial District and across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. PCCD works to improve justice-related programs across the commonwealth by focusing research, policy, planning, training, evidence-based programming, technology, outreach, and support services.
“These grants are critical in improving our communities and are extremely important as we begin to transition to methods that address the traumas our people are facing,” Sen. Hughes said. “Focusing on prevention and treatment provides us with a pathway forward to breaking the cycle, which is why I will always support these types of proactive initiatives.”
The grants were awarded to the following agencies:
- Pennsylvania Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs received $275,000 to help implement “Great Choices, Great Futures” an evidence-based program that provides direct substance prevention strategies for youth.
- Prevention Point Philadelphia received $150,000 to expand training for substance use prevention initiatives.
- Education Plus Health (Delaware) was granted $150,000 over two years to improve substance use outcomes at area high schools.
- After-School All-Stars was granted $150,000 over a two-year period to implement evidence-based social and emotional learning curriculum to address substance abuse prevention at several Philadelphia schools.
- University of the Sciences received $149,989 to expand initiatives to help prepare pharmacists to assist patients with opioid used disorders.
- Family Service of Montgomery County received $143,906 to assist high-risk men with a history of substance use disorder after they have been released from the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.
- The Philadelphia City Treasurer received $104,972 to improve court-based reentry programs in the city, which will create better. connections to services for individuals in the criminal justice system, increased alignment across systems, more targeted allocation of resources, and better data about recidivism.
- The Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services received $104,952 to improve data integration and information sharing to reduce the number of people in jail with serious mental illness and substance use disorders.
- Girls, Inc. of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey was granted $104,176 over two years to implement its Friendly PEERsuasion program, a research-based, outcomes-tested substance abuse prevention curriculum.
- The Child Advocacy Center of Montgomery County received $47,933 to fund Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy training for 50 therapists. The center also received $47,000 to support direct services at the Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center.
- Philadelphia Children’s Alliance received $47,000 to maintain, improve and expand services for victims of child sexual abuse.
- Child and Family Focus received $39,006 to fund training for 10 mental health clinicians in community-based therapy programs.