LEWISTON – The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Substance Abuse recently announced the selection of Healthy Androscoggin as one of six community partners involved in a new substance abuse prevention effort to assess cultural subpopulations in Maine.

“Maine has many cultural subpopulations whose unique needs and resources we have been unable to study in depth,” said Kim Johnson, executive director. “Through these assessments, we will be able to break new ground by documenting substance abuse risks in small, but definable cultural subpopulations in Maine who may suffer health disparities.”

Healthy Androscoggin will conduct a needs and resources assessment of the substance abuse prevention needs of 18- to 24-year-olds in Androscoggin County, a group that has been historically difficult to reach.

Angela Westhoff, executive director of Healthy Androscoggin, said, “This is a unique opportunity for us to learn more about the risk and protective factors for young adults. Through focus groups and survey data we hope to learn more about substance abuse patterns, characteristics related to use and also what reasons individuals have for not using drugs, alcohol and other substances. The results of the assessment will be published along with a resource guide detailing substance abuse prevention and treatment services and resources.”

Funded through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, OSA has awarded Healthy Androscoggin a grant of $25,000 that will be used to seek to understand the needs and resources of different subpopulations.

According to Johnson, “The SPF-SIG grants will assist us in developing strong partnerships between state and local communities. These grantees will be on the front lines of researching needs and developing a plan to implement culturally competent substance abuse prevention programs, policies, and practices for the state of Maine.”

Over the first 12 months, the focus will be on conducting a needs and resource assessment of cultural subpopulations, which are defined as any group which shares a distinct set of cultural characteristics that appear to influence the substance abuse patterns and related impacts within that group.

Healthy Androscoggin is a community coalition dedicated to improving the health of residents in the county. For more information on the new program or how to get involved, call 795-5990 or visit the Web at www.healthyandroscoggin.org. For more information on the grants, visit the OSA Web site at www.state.me.us/bds/osa.