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What We Do

The Roane County Anti-Drug Coalition (RCADC) is a private, non-profit, grassroots corporation. The mission of RCADC is to reduce youth substance use; to educate and raise awareness of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug issues; to promote community involvement; and to strengthen community partnerships and prevention strategies in Roane County.

Federal Contracts
Drug Free Communities – From 2007-2018 RCADC was part of the Drug-Free Communities program (DFC), a federal grant program that provides funding to community-based coalitions that organize to prevent youth substance use.  The purpose of the DFC program is to strengthen collaboration among community entities and reduce substance use among youth.  Grants awarded through the DFC program are intended to support established community-based coalitions capable of affecting community-level change.  The DFC program enables RCADC to work with leaders within Roane County to identify and address local youth substance use problems and create sustainable community-level change. There is a 10 year limit on funding through this program, but the coalition’s goals still mirror the DFC prevention model.
Community-Based Coalition Enhancement Grant to Address Local Drug Crisis (CARA) –This program was created by the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016. The goal of the program is to prevent and reduce the misuse of opioids, methamphetamines and prescription medications among youth ages 12-18 in communities throughout the United States.

Grants awarded through the CARA Local Drug Crises program are intended as an enhancement to current or formerly funded Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program grant award recipients as established community-based youth substance use prevention coalitions capable of affecting community-level change.

The goals of this program are to reduce opioid, methamphetamine and prescription drug misuse among youth and to change the culture and context regarding acceptability of youth substance use. These goals are achieved by implementing the following strategies:

  • increase the perception of harm of methamphetamine use among youth through awareness and community education
  • enhance access to resources for professionals and support enforcement efforts
  • decrease youth access to prescription drugs
  • encourage non-opioid alternatives for pain management
  • increase collaboration between community members, county leaders and local businesses to decrease stigma and social norms associated with youth substance use disorder
STOP (Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking) Act Grant – The purpose of the STOP Act grant program is to prevent and reduce alcohol use among youth ages 12-20 in communities throughout the United States. STOP Act funds focus primarily on strengthening collaboration among community entities to reduce alcohol use among youth in current and former DFC grantee communities. The STOP Act program includes the following strategies:

  • increase awareness and community education on the consequences of underage drinking
  • increase the perception of harm of underage drinking
  • support enforcement efforts
  • target remote areas of the county such as lakes and ATV trails
  • increase awareness of the dangers of boating under the influence
  • increase infrastructure development and reestablish underage drinking prevention as a priority in the community
Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) – Each year AmeriCorps Seniors make a difference in our community by:

  • distributing materials for the “Count it! Lock it! Drop it!” campaign to encourage responsible storage and disposal of medication,
  • the launch of a county-wide media campaign focused on increasing volunteer efforts in prevention,
  • participation in youth prevention activities in collaboration with Roane County Schools,
  • organization and training for community members on prevention basics and making referrals for treatment,
  • and by delivering substance use disorder education and information on access to treatment with a focus on military veterans.

Volunteers age 55+ are serving through AmeriCorps Seniors programs, led by AmeriCorps, the federal agency for service, volunteering and civic engagement.

State Contracts

Established Coalitions Block Grant – RCADC has a contract with the State of Tennessee Department of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services to increase prevention efforts in Roane County by focusing on the coordination and implementation of environmental strategies related to alcohol, nicotine and prescription drug use. Environmental strategies change the community environment by targeting community conditions, standards, institutions, structures, systems and policies that tend to support social and health consequences of substance use in the community. Specifically, environmental strategies seek to limit access to substances and to change the culture and contexts within which decisions about substance use are made.

Marijuana – The focus of this program is to build community level prevention capacity and infrastructure to reduce marijuana use. The program goals include:

  • to coordinate the implementation of substance use prevention environmental strategies within Roane County to address marijuana use among persons twelve to twenty-five (12-25) years in the local community, region, and statewide
  • to reduce the past thirty (30) day marijuana use rate among persons twelve to twenty-five (12-25) years in Roane County, Tennessee
  • to reduce substance use related problems in Roane County, Tennessee
  • to build community level prevention capacity and infrastructure to prevent the onset and reduce the progression of substance misuse in Roane County, Tennessee
  • to strengthen capacity and infrastructure at the state and community levels in support of substance misuse prevention in Tennessee
  • to contribute to a reduction of the past thirty (30) day marijuana use rate among persons twelve to twenty-five (12-25) years in Region Two [2] by 10 percent, as reported in the SAMHSA, Center for Behavioral Statistics and Quality, National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)
  • to contribute to a statewide reduction of the past thirty (30) day marijuana use rate among persons twelve to twenty-five (12-25) years by 10 percent, as reported in the NSDUH
  • to leverage, redirect, and realign state-wide funding streams for substance use prevention

Drug Endangered Children (DEC) – The DEC program is funded through the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI). A “drug endangered child” is a child from birth to 18 years of age who lives in, is exposed to, or is found in places where controlled substances are sold, manufactured, processed or used. Drug endangered children are at increased risk of injury or death, physical and sexual abuse and nutritional, educational, supervisory and emotional neglect. These children are also at risk of perpetuating the cycle of substance misuse and child abuse. The DEC service goals are:

  • to promote and support the implementation of the Collaborative Drug Endangered Children Approach within targeted project sites identified by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation by providing high-quality, cross-disciplinary stakeholder trainings to DEC Response team members, criminal justice professionals, treatment providers, community service providers, state and local government personnel and other interested stakeholders
  • to support the implementation of grant programs being implemented by the Tennessee Bureau of lnvestigation1 through the coordination of national and state level training and technical assistance resources