About this Center

The Center for Community Engagement helps build, strengthen and support substance use/misuse prevention programs, partnerships, and coalitions through training, technical assistance and seed funding.

PreventionFIRST! establishes and supports local, grassroots community substance use/misuse prevention coalitions in neighborhoods across the Tristate.

What is a Coalition?
A coalition is a group of individuals and groups representing a variety of sectors in any given community. This group works collaboratively to design and implement comprehensive, community wide substance use/misuse prevention strategies. These strategies are intended to change community norms and standards of conduct related to substance use within the community. A coalition is not known so much as an individual entity, but the sum of its total membership.

Community Sectors

Coalitions are comprised of members from 12 community sectors. 

• youth
• parents
• businesses
• media
• schools
• youth serving organizations
• law enforcement
• substance abuse treatment
• religious organizations
• civic organizations
• health care professionals
• governmental agencies

Center for Community Engagement
Leadership Team

The CCE Leadership Team provides expertise and leadership to build behavioral health prevention capacity in communities across the Tristate region.

• Assess and monitor the level of development among member coalitions across the region
• Build the awareness and capacity of community constituents to participate in a local neighborhood coalition
• Identify and pursue opportunities to address the identified gaps in development among member coalitions and sectors
• Leverage state and national resources for use on the regional level and through the local member coalitions 

For More Information:

Amanda Conn Starner, MS, CHES, OCPC
Chief Program Officer
aconnstarner@prevention-first.org
513-751-8000 ext. 13