EPIC Grant Helps DMCI Stop Youth Substance Misuse Before It Starts
Youth substance use rarely comes out of nowhere. Most often, it grows from gaps in the social or family fabric as a result of housing or income insecurity, or lack of opportunities and community connections. Awarded the statewide, multi-year EPIC Grant, DMCI is helping to mend those gaps in ways that are informed by and impactful for the community.
Funded by the State of Colorado in partnership with the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE), the grant “empowers communities to establish a collective impact system that fosters comprehensive primary prevention efforts for substance use and misuse, aligning with community needs.” Grantees like DMCI form their own programmatic approach to reduce youth substance misuse risk factors by addressing root causes rather than symptoms, with the ultimate goal of preventing substance use before it starts.
The grant’s intent reflects the ethos DMCI was born out of. While EPIC stands for Elevating Prevention in Colorado, DMCI executive director Briana Roy believes effective prevention must start earlier, and be built from community empowerment and belonging. “We’d rather it be called Elevating the People in Community,” she says. “At DMCI, we want to change the mindset that we’re working only on prevention, and really empower and bring community voices to the forefront. They steer us. What do they need to thrive?”
Over the next five years, DMCI will work to identify systemic causes using the Health Impact Assessment the organization created with and for the community. The assessment shows key factors that would help to establish healthy, thriving communities—among them stable, affordable housing; economic opportunity; access to mental health services; safe schools, playgrounds, and workplaces; and a greater sense of belonging.
While the Health Impact Assessment data is in hand, community conversations facilitated by DMCI will continue to garner information and weave the public into the process, ensuring the grant effects change at the ground level. Two new staff members, program manager Wafa Saeed and program evaluator Spencer Childress, have been added to the DMCI team to carry the work forward.
