Philanthropy in the Faith Community: Mobilizing Faith-Based Organizations for Substance Use Prevention

Abstract

Keywords: Faith, philanthropy, substance use, prevention, addictionThe Assistance for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) Center was created in 2000 by the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati to strengthen grassroots substance abuse prevention through technical assistance and grantmaking. Over the years, the ASAP Center has worked with community partners in the faith community to prevent alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use. Reviving the Human Spirit (RTHS) was a collaborative project that provided resources to help congregations provide substance use prevention and recovery support in their communities. The ASAP Center also helped mobilize faith communities that were not involved with RTHS to implement evidencebased prevention programs. The center conducted surveys and interviews to understand the successes and challenges of congregations engaged in community-based substance abuse prevention efforts. This reflective practice article examines lessons learned in the faith community and describes how those lessons will shape the ASAP Center's future. This article will also introduce the Faith-Based Prevention Toolkit, a resource developed by the ASAP Center, the Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati, and collaborators to help members of the faith community implement and sustain substance abuse prevention activities in their congregations.The Health Foundation, an independent 501(c)(4) social welfare organization dedicated to improving community health, awards grants to nonprofit and governmental organizations for programs and activities that improve health in Cincinnati and 20 surrounding counties in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. The Health Foundation provides direct support for addiction treatment and created the ASAP Center to carry out prevention activities within the Health Foundation's Substance Use Disorders focus area.1 The center operates as an intermediary of the foundation, providing capacity building, grants, and technical assistance to community organizations (e.g., senior citizens clubs, community centers, civic and fraternal organizations, congregations, and after-school programs), to promote evidence-based prevention.When the ASAP Center was founded, foundation staff, in consultation with community members and prevention professionals, identified the faith community as one of the center's four areas of concentration: Hispanic/Latino, rural, older adults, and the faith community. The center's founders recognized that congregations play an important role in the lives of many people in the region and that there is potential to engage community members in prevention efforts by leveraging the existing infrastructure of the faith community. In order to meet the needs of a wide variety of faith-based organizations, the center developed a two-pronged approach to work within its faith community area: encouraging shared learning through the RTHS project and providing prevention support directly to congregations and faith-based organizations.Supporting Shared Learning Through RTHSThe ASAP Center formed RTHS in collaboration with regional and national partners, including the Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati, League Ministry Consultants, and the Urban Minority Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Outreach Program. RTHS created a network of professionals and members of the faith community that provided support for the development of prevention and recovery ministries. This group came together to implement the Faith Partners model for Substance Abuse Team ministries.2 The ASAP Center provided funding, coordination, and support to the RTHS collaborative and its members.Since its founding in 2000, more than 2,000 individuals representing 215 faith-based organizations have participated in RTHS activities, including 38 congregations that started Substance Abuse Team ministries. These included a variety of faiths and denominations, including Church of God, Episcopalian, Baptist, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Presbyterian, Seventh day Adventist, and Non-Denominational Christian. …