PSU $5.7 million grant to help families and youth avoid substance abuse, behavio...( Penn State University has received a...),Health

Penn State University has received a $5.7 million federal grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to continue the development of community partnerships that strengthen families and help young people avoid substance abuse and behavioral problems.

The new award will support PROSPER PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience for an additional five years. The total award to Penn State and its partner, Iowa State University, is $11.6 million.

Since 2002, in collaboration with Iowa State and through partnerships established with local communities and assisted by Penn State Extension, the Penn State Prevention Research Center (PRC) has been conducting research to promote capable and healthy youths, adults and families. PROSPER seeks to strengthen families and communities, promote positive youth development, and reduce youth substance use and other problem behavior literally helping families and their communities "prosper" through various intervention methods recommended by Penn State researchers.

"The rates of youth substance abuse and related problems in both rural and urban areas continue to be high," said Penn State researcher and PRC Director Mark Greenberg, who also directs PROSPER. "Although there are now skill-building and family strengthening programs proven to address these problems, they continue to be underutilized. NIDA's ongoing support for our project is an indication they believe our partnership model is a promising strategy for supporting the long-term, quality delivery of scientifically validated prevention programs."

The initial phase of the PROSPER project involved more than 6,000 youth in 14 Pennsylvania communities and more than 6,000 youth in Iowa communities. Richard Spoth, director of the Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute, and his team at Iowa State, collaborated with Penn State in implementing the project in 14 Iowa communities. The PROSPER project has now reached
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