A Special Editorial Page Report

COALITION HAS WINNING MIXTURE OF INDEPENDENCE AND DURABILITY

Each year the Broward County Commission on Substance Abuse receives about
$1 million in federal money through the Byrne Block Grant program,
authorized in 1986 to assist local efforts to fight drug abuse. As
required, the Broward coalition finds a local cash match of 25 percent,
mostly from assets confiscated from criminals by police.

The coalition awards grants to various groups after a stringent application
process, similar to that conducted by the United Way. Under federal rules,
no group can receive a Byrne grant for more than four years, and the
coalition on its own added a ``weaning'' requirement:

In the second year that an agency receives a grant, it must replace l0
percent of the federal dollars with funds from other sources. In the third
year, another 10 percent, and so on.

This standonyourown process has been extraordinarily successful in
making the projects last beyond four years. No project funded by the
coalition for the full four years has run out of gas; each one has
continued with money from other sources. Among them:

Women in Distress, which established a substance abuse service for women.

South Broward Drug Enforcement Unit, which created a unified drug task
force for cities south of State Road 84 and involved other antidrug
agencies outside of law enforcement.

Project Restoration, which established community revitalization programs in
four housing projects in Fort Lauderdale's Sistrunk area.

Hispanics Against Drugs and Alcohol, which provides drugintervention
services for Hispanic youth and their families.

For fiscal year 199697, the coalition awarded grants for 18 projects that
impacted 9,644 participants. The projects ranged from education to prevent
drug abuse, to treatment and aftercare for boot camp graduates. The average
annual cost per participant was $167.07.

The Broward coalition is here to stay. It acts as a catalyst, an organizer,
a grant dispenser and a determined advocate of a drugfree life.

Copyright © 1997, SunSentinel Company and South Florida Interactive, Inc.