The Sebastian County Opioid Task Force is announcing that it has been selected as a recipient of a $625,000 federal grant. The funds are a part of the Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program that provides grants to community coalitions to reduce local youth substance use.
The DFC program is aimed at mobilizing community leaders to identify and respond to the drug problems unique to their community and change local community environmental conditions tied to substance use.
Sebastian County Health Officer Dr. Bryan Clardy said it is a privilege for him to serve on the task force and looked back on its formation five years ago.
“We had a bunch of different agencies not even communicating and not knowing the resources we can bring to bear on the problem,” said Dr. Clardy. “So we thought we would get everyone in the same room and just share information. And then connections started happening.”
“For the first couple years, I think we felt like toddlers in the deep end with our floaties on. Then we were invited to the Arkansas Hospital Association about two years into establishing the task force to explain what we were doing that was effective. So while we thought we were in the deep end with our floaties on, we saw there were a lot of other communities that didn’t even have floaties,” McClardy added.
McClardy said the Sebastian County Opioid Task Force has now become a model for the state and the members are training similar task forces that are being established around the state on best practices.
Fort Smith Mayor George McGill said he looks forward to the continued success of the task force’s work. He said it is now time to show the community what they can do with the funds.
“Today we’re celebrating the awarding of the grant and talking about all the great partners involved. But right now we’re just in a huddle, and what everyone else is looking for is they want to see what we are going to do when we break here today,” said McGill. “We’ve got to find those touchpoints. We’ve got to be just like water flowing downhill. We’ve got to find those lowest points where we can help somebody. And not be afraid to go to those lowest points.”
The funds will be used to continue efforts to prevent the use and abuse of THC and Opioids among young people in the community.
“Preventing substance use today is critical, so that today’s youth don’t become tomorrow’s overdose victims. We are thrilled to award this grant because we know the outcomes DFC funded coalitions are capable of achieving when implementing evidence-based prevention strategies at the local level.” said Helen Hernandez, Administrator of the DFC Program at the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
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