Washington / Baltimore HIDTA Initiatives
Prevention
The W/B HIDTA prevention initiatives are designed to prevent, identify, or mitigate substance use across the region by coordinating community and local government resources to foster protective factors, increase knowledge around substances, and link individuals to appropriate levels of care.
Initiatives focus on one or more of the following aims:
- Strengthen youth, parent, and teacher resiliency
- Develop social and emotional competence in youth
- Offer concrete support, early intervention, or referral services in times of need
- Develop healthy and supportive social connections
- Educate on parenting and child development
- Offer unique prevention services to W/B HIDTA high-risk communities based on community needs assessments
- Promote drug-free values.
HIDTA funds multidisciplinary teams composed of local government agencies and community groups influential in the social development of children and welfare of its citizens to provide support, training, and resources to:
- Build social networks
- Mobilize citizens in problem-solving and youth development
- Overcome social disorder and decline
- Enhance community cohesion.
Prevention initiatives include law enforcement partnerships participating at operational and policy-making levels. A nexus has been formed among law enforcement and other public and private sector program elements. There is an ongoing effort to expand alternative funding to enhance the prevention component of this HIDTA, primarily through grant development.
2025 HIDTA Results:
In 2025, W/B HIDTA funded three prevention initiatives. Across the initiatives:
- 2,346 youth were served through a variety of evidence-based activities including mentoring and school curricula
- 961 youth showed an improvement in school attendance, GPA, and/or social competencies
HIDTA Prevention Initiatives:
- Badges for Baseball
- The Martinsburg Initiative
- Prince William Community Services Board
- Tuerk House
Substance Use Prevention Resources
Resources from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy:
- Keep Your Child Safe: Put your medicine Up & Away and out of sight
- Opioids and Adolescents: Resources from HHS Office of Adolescent Health
- Generation Rx: Safe Medication Practices for Life
- Strategies for Effective Community Change: An Online Toolkit for Preventing Medicine Abuse in Your Communities
- Find a Drug-Free Communities (DFC) coalition in your area
Resources from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: