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Welcome
to
Sault Ste. Marie FOCUS Community Coalition
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Mission Statement
The Sault Ste. Marie FOCUS Community Coalition is a group
of people committed to providing Drug and Alcohol prevention
and education programs promoting healthy drug free lifestyles.
The FOCUS Community Program
Alcohol and other substance abuse is a serious problem that
takes its toll on individuals, families and society as a whole.
The estimated cost to Ontario of alcohol and substance abuse
is 9.2 billion per year in health care, law enforcement, and
lost labour productivity. Alcohol use alone accounts for about
one-half of these costs. It is estimated that 10 percent of
all deaths in Ontario result, directly or indirectly, from
alcohol consumption.
The Ministry of Health developed a five-year, $12-million
FOCUS Community Program to prevent alcohol and other drug
abuse in 22 communities across Ontario that have demonstrated
a commitment to addressing this issue. Children and youth
are key audiences, with each project being asked to allocate
at least one third of its budget to reaching young people.
The FOCUS Community Program builds on the success of a demonstration
project to prevent alcohol and substance abuse at sites in
11 communities. An evaluation found that the demonstration
project provided a promising model for preventing alcohol
and other substance abuse. Based on these findings, as well
as national and international research, the Ministry has developed
a 5-year provincial FOCUS Community Program for implementation
at the 11 existing sites, as well as at 11 new ones.
In all of the sites, a local agency with a mandate to prevent
substance abuse will take the lead in implementing FOCUS.
The Centre for Addiction & Mental Health had participated
in the development of the FOCUS program and the selection
of the sites. At the invitation of the Ministry, these agencies
prepared their FOCUS applications in conjunction with local
partners, such as injury prevention coalitions, businesses,
schools, health agencies, recreation centres, police, and
voluntary groups. About 220 groups in total are partners in
a FOCUS Community Program.
Ministry funding will support program costs and staff resources.
The participating communities have matched ministry funding
with local in-kind resources on a 1:1 basis.
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