MORE THAN $10-MILLION ON HAND TO FIGHT SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Group leading effort wants public's ideas on how to reduce drug and alcohol abuse

WILMINGTON - The Delaware Advisory Council (DAC), a group made up of both state personnel and members from community organizations interested in reducing drug and alcohol abuse, wants to know what people see as the abuse - related problems in their communities, and use that information to decide how to spend federal grant money to address those issues.

The DAC hopes members of the public will take part in an online survey designed to help the group appropriately steer federal funding in the direction it will have the biggest impact.

The DAC oversees activities funded by a $10,678,000 federal Strategic Prevention Framework - State Incentive Grant (SPF SIG) to build and strengthen the State's ability to prevent drug and alcohol abuse. Delaware spends far more than that amount each year for treatment, law enforcement, prison and social services relating to drugs and alcohol. While a small amount of the money will fund work at the state level, most of it will be used to fund prevention in Delaware communities.

The Strategic Prevention Framework process includes gathering information from a wide variety of sources, including community members, to help the DAC create a strategic plan for how and where to fund prevention efforts. People interested in contributing comments about the substance abuse problems in their communities are encouraged to participate in surveys now available for the DAC.

Members of the general public can find the survey by going to http://udsurveys.org. The survey is also available in Spanish at http://espanol.udsurveys.org. Those representing community organizations can find their survey at http://community.udsurveys.org or in Spanish at http://comunidad.udsurveys.org". For those with no computer access, surveys can be made available by calling 302-255-9428.

Delaware Health and Social Services is committed to improving the quality of the lives of Delaware's citizens by promoting health and well-being, fostering self-sufficiency, and protecting vulnerable populations.