GREENVILLE — The Coalition for a Healthy Darke County (Coalition) for the third year as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit will offer grants for K-12 youth substance abuse prevention education in Darke County. The Coalition has awarded $50,000 in the past two years.

Coalition President Sharon Deschambeau stated, “Students spend the major part of their day in school. Education provided in schools can have an instrumental role in educating children and teens about the potential implications of their actions and behaviors.” Coalition grants provide funding for programs and projects specific to the needs of our individual schools. Many community partners contribute to the Coalition to fund the substance abuse prevention education grants. Those partners include Darke County United Way, Premier Health, Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services, Wayne HealthCare and Wayne HealthCare Foundation.

Recently Premier Health and the Coalition collaborated with grants to bring former NBA basketball star Chris Herren to Greenville City Schools, middle school and high school. Herren spoke to more than 1,300 students about his story of addiction and recovery.

Deschambeau also serves as the president of the Darke County Chamber of Commerce and indicated that investing in substance abuse prevention education for our children at an early age may benefit our businesses and communities in the long term. “Our long-term goal is to change the culture in Darke County. We hope to see a difference in the health of our future workforce in Darke County in the next 10-12 years by starting substance abuse prevention education now,” she said.

The grant application can be found at the Coalition website https://coalitiondarkecounty.com/ The deadline to apply is Jan. 20, 2020.