Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare (BRBH) is proud to announce that it has been awarded a $180,000 3-year grant from the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth (VFHY) to reduce and prevent youth tobacco use in the cities of Roanoke and Salem and the counties of Botetourt, Craig and Roanoke. The VFHY grant will fund implementation of the Too Good for Drugs program in grades K – 7 in Craig County Public Schools, grades K – 2 in four Roanoke County elementary schools, and YMCA Magic Place afterschool program sites anticipated to be in Botetourt County and the cities of Roanoke and Salem.
Through this grant, Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare Prevention Services will educate youth about the risks associated with tobacco, and other drug, use. Age-appropriate lessons about goal setting, decision making and managing emotions will also be taught and presented in a fun way for children to learn.
According to Lynn McDowell, Prevention Services Director for Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare from 2009 to 2015, there has been a 46% decrease in middle school students that have ever tried tobacco and a 46% decrease in the number of middle school students that have used tobacco products in the past 30 days in the cities of Roanoke and Salem and the counties of Botetourt and Craig. High school youth in these localities have had a 17% decrease in lifetime use and a 26% decrease in past 30-day tobacco use over this same time period. BRBH has received funding from VFHY to provide programming in all of these localities for the past 6 years.
This year, BRBH anticipates nearly 1,500 youth receiving the Too Good for Drugs program due to this VFHY grant. Every student in grades K – 7 in Craig County will receive this program and approximately 800 Roanoke County K – 2 students will receive this programming. Another 300 students spread across Roanoke and Salem Cities and Botetourt County are expected to receive this programming via the YMCA Magic Place. Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare, Craig County Public Schools, Roanoke County Public Schools and the YMCA Magic Place are all committed to the healthy development of our youth. To this end we are all committed to keeping our children and youth from ever trying tobacco products.
Established by the Virginia General Assembly in 1999, the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth empowers Virginia’s youth to make healthy choices by promoting active, nutritious and tobacco-free living. Since the Foundation began its work in 2001, the number of high school students in Virginia who smoke has been cut by more than 60% and the number of middle school smokers has dropped by more than 75%. The Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth directly reaches about 50,000 children each year through evidence-based, educational prevention programs in public schools, after-school programs, community centers, daycares and nonprofits across the state. VFHY’s award-winning marketing campaigns deliver prevention messaging to more than 500,000 children annually.
