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Mercer Council Announces Receipt of Federal Grant

MCADA awarded Drug Free Communities grant to prevent youth substance abuse.

Lawrenceville, NJ, January 16, 2014:  The Mercer Council on Alcoholism and Drug Addiction (MCADA), a local non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of substance abuse and its harmful consequences, has received a $125,000 federal grant for 2014 toward the Prevention Coalition of Mercer County. 

The Drug Free Communities (DFC) grant award was recently announced by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.  The DFC program provides grants of up to $625,000 over 5 years to community coalitions that facilitate citizen participation in local drug prevention efforts.

“The work that the Prevention Coalition of Mercer County is doing for our community cannot be understated and the partnerships formed between our agency and coalition members is synergetic, our work together will accomplish more than what we can do alone,” said Geetha Arulmohan, MA, Executive Director of the Mercer Council on Alcoholism and Drug Addiction. 

The Prevention Coalition was initially formed in 2012 by the Mercer Council on Alcoholism and Drug Addiction and it has more than 25 active members from all sectors of the community including law enforcement, government, schools, parents, faith based, treatment, prevention and business. The DFC grant funding will allow the Prevention Coalition of Mercer County to support existing environmental strategies and efforts to keep youth drug-free, which is critical to healthy and safe communities.

Dr. Sharese Dawes has been selected as the project coordinator.  Dr. Dawes  holds a Ph.D.  in Psychology and has extensive experience in adolescent counseling.  “We are excited to have someone of Dr. Dawes caliber joining our team,” Ms. Arulmohan said. We think Sharese is a good match for our community, and will bring a highly professional level of experience to our planning and outreach processes.”

The DFC Program was created by the Drug-Free Communities Act of 1997, and reauthorized by Congress in 2001 and 2006.  Since 1998, the Office of National Drug Control Policy has awarded more than 2,000 Drug-Free Communities grants to local communities nationally.