Elevate Youth California: Cohort 8 Standard Track

Through this round of Elevate Youth California (EYC) funding, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is making approximately $44 million available to community-based, Tribal, and county behavioral health organizations throughout California to expand youth and young adult substance use prevention through policy, systems, and environmental change. EYC is a statewide program that addresses substance use disorders (SUDs) by investing in leadership development and civic engagement for youth of color and 2S/LGBTQIA+ youth ages 12 to 26 living in communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. This statewide program provides funding and technical assistance for organizations proposing to implement programs that empower youth to be community leaders and create positive policy and systems change. EYC funded partners will be responsible for implementing comprehensive strategies that reduce risk factors (e.g., trauma, disconnection from school/community) and enhance protective factors (e.g., cultural identity, adult/peer mentorship, community and civic engagement) associated with youth substance use prevention. Projects are recommended to utilize evidence-based, promising, and/or community-driven practices in their prevention approach and incorporate social justice youth development in all programming. Funded partners will conduct annual listening sessions to gather feedback from youth and young adults on the impact of prevention efforts and to identify opportunities for project improvement. Additionally, funded partners are expected to actively participate in technical assistance opportunities hosted by The Center, engage in an external evaluation to assess the effectiveness of EYC, and attend one-day regional convenings, at least two over the award period. EYC funded partners will be required to submit biannual progress and financial reports. Success will be measured by progress towards programmatic and policy, systems, and environmental change goals and objectives contained in an approved work plan, which must include processes for monitoring and evaluation of youth engagement, prevention activities, policy, systems, and environmental change, and participant outcomes through quantitative and qualitative methods. Additional indicators of success include participants' increased knowledge of SUD and its prevention, reduced stigma around substance use services, and evidence of community-level policy, systems, and environmental changes related to substance use issues or their root causes. Since the program’s launch, DHCS has awarded $370 million through 517 grant awards. For information about EYC, visit www.elevateyouthca.org.