Governor Awards Marshall County FRN with Safe and Drug-Free Communities Grant

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III has awarded the Marshall County Family Resource Network with a $25,520 Safe and Drug Free Communities Grant to provide substance abuse and violence prevention programs in Marshall County schools.

Manchin presented three staff members from the FRN -- executive director Stacie Dei, substance abuse prevention director Latrisha Whitelatch and Safe and Drug Free Communities coordinator Kimberli Green -- with the award at a ceremony in Charleston. The FRN's grant was among 19 projects from across the state to receive SDFC grants.

The Marshall County FRN's Safe and Drug Free Communities Grant is the Too Good for Drugs and Violence program. Too Good for Drugs has been implemented in Marshall County schools since 2007. It is in its third year at Cameron Elementary School, focusing on fifth and sixth graders. The program, which began in Cameron on Oct. 1 this year, includes a 30-minute lesson once a week for 10 weeks. The lesson plans incorporate five interwoven components such as goal setting, decision making, bonding with others, identifying and managing emotions and effective communications.

In January 2010, Central Elementary School fifth graders in Moundsville will go through the program for 10 weeks. Counselors at Cameron Elementary School and Central Elementary School will implement Too Good for Violence programs into their schools.

The goal of the Marshall County SDFC program, in collaboration with the Marshall County Anti-Drug Coalition, is to reduce substance abuse among youth, and over time among adults, by promoting and delivering effective substance abuse prevention. The program is designed to reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors while helping students develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential to making positive decisions to remain safe and drug free. The WV Division of Criminal Justice Services of the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety adminsters the program from funds received from the U.S. Department of Education under the Safe and Drug Free Communities Act.

The Benwood-McMechen Housing Authority also received $13,530 for its violence prevention and social skill-building program to children from kindergarten through ninth grade.