{"id":11294,"date":"2021-11-17T15:45:37","date_gmt":"2021-11-17T15:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rmff.org\/?p=11294"},"modified":"2025-12-05T18:37:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T18:37:43","slug":"prevention-matters-year-3-lessons-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rmff.org\/es\/2021\/11\/prevention-matters-year-3-lessons-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"Marion County Schools Provide Prevention Programming for 81,400 Students, Schools Share Lessons Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"

Substance use disorder (SUD) has worsened throughout the United States and within Indiana in recent years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Substance use often begins at a young age, and those who use drugs or alcohol in their early teens are more likely to develop a substance use disorder.1<\/a><\/sup> In fact, last year, 23% of high school seniors in Indiana reported using e-cigarettes, and 6.7% reported using cigarettes in the last month. 28.5% of high school seniors in Indiana reported alcohol use in the last month.2<\/a><\/sup>  Schools can play a critical role in combatting SUD by implementing early intervention initiatives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation launched La prevenci\u00f3n es importante<\/em><\/a>, a multi-year grant initiative that aims to help Marion County schools identify, implement and sustain evidence-based substance use prevention programs. Prevention programs have been shown not only to reduce substance use among youth, but also to improve academic outcomes, address bullying and in-school violence, and promote students\u2019 emotional well-being.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the La prevenci\u00f3n es importante <\/em>initiative, twenty-seven<\/a> Marion County K-12 school districts, charter schools and private school organizations have been delivering evidence-based prevention curricula<\/a> for the past three school years.  Despite the disruption to schools caused by COVID-19, La prevenci\u00f3n es importante <\/em>grantees delivered evidence-based prevention programs to more than 81,400 students across 156 Marion County schools last year alone.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to providing grant funding and technical assistance to participating schools, the Fairbanks Foundation has commissioned RTI International<\/a> to conduct an annual evaluation of the La prevenci\u00f3n es importante <\/em>initiative. RTI\u2019s 2020-21 La prevenci\u00f3n es importante <\/em>evaluation report<\/a> was released this week.  Although many schools struggled to collect and analyze student data last year due to the pandemic, 12 out of 27 grantees reported measurable increases in student outcomes, including engagement, knowledge and understanding.\u202f RTI\u2019s report also includes a number of lessons learned<\/a>, which may be helpful to funders and schools considering similar work: <\/p>\n\n\n\n