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Darien's Thriving Youth Initiative Gets $500K Grant To Cut Risky Behaviors

DARIEN, Conn. – The Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services has awarded a grant of $100,000 for each of the next five years to the Thriving Youth Initiative of the Community Fund of Darien.

Darien First Selectman Jayme Stevenson, Thriving Youth Program Coordinator Emily Larkin, Community Fund of Darien Executive Director Carrie Bernier

Darien First Selectman Jayme Stevenson, Thriving Youth Program Coordinator Emily Larkin, Community Fund of Darien Executive Director Carrie Bernier

Photo Credit: Contributed

“The Darien Community Fund’s Thriving Youth initiative has opened an important community dialogue about the causes and life-altering consequences of risky behaviors. Incidents of alcohol and substance use and abuse are alarmingly on the rise here in Darien among our youth," Darien First Selectman Jayme Stevenson said. "I’m grateful for the State of Connecticut’s investment in our efforts to bring community partners together to help address this disturbing public health crisis.”

The Community Fund of Darien will use the funds to implement a strategic prevention plan to reduce substance abuse and improve mental health among Darien’s youth and their parents. 

The Community Fund of Darien will dedicate resources to engage the whole community in a long-term plan to promote positive youth development and mental health. 

“We are thrilled to be a recipient of this important prevention grant. It allows us to collaborate town-wide with leaders working with youth and to invest on a deeper level in our Thriving Youth Task Force. Together, we will integrate positive assets into our town’s culture and our interactions with youth, with the aim of improving mental health, resiliency and reducing substance abuse,” said Executive Director Carrie Bernier. 

This grant will strengthen The Community Fund’s collaborative efforts to work with the 42 members of the Thriving Youth Task Force. 

“Our goal is to achieve measurable outcomes in promoting mental health and reducing substance abuse among teens and their parents,” said Bernier. 

Darien was awarded the grant by the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to support The Community Fund’s work to promote the “40 Developmental Assets,” which are evidence-based building blocks for healthy youth. 

The Community Fund administered a survey of Darien Public School seventh to 12th-graders to quantify the “assets” students possess in 2008, 2011 and 2014. 

The results were shared in a public forum at the Darien Library in April 2015. 

The survey revealed some alarming trends, namely that substance abuse was on the rise among teens and resilience/resistance skills seemed to be declining instead of improving. 

With this grant, The Community Fund of Darien will implement a strategic prevention framework using a public health model.  

For more information, contact The Community Fund of Darien office at 203- 655-8775 or visit the website at www.communityfunddarien.org

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