Parents Commission Grants
The Arizona Parents Commission on Drug Education and Prevention funds programs that increase and enhance parental involvement and will increase education about the serious risks and public health problems caused by the abuse of alcohol and controlled substances.  The Parents Commission currently supports the following programs and initiatives:

Arizona Youth Partnership
Arizona Youth Partnership is implementing Project GIFTS (Growing and Inspiring Families to Succeed) in three communities in Mohave County: Bullhead City, Kingman, and Lake Havasu City.  Project GIFTS combines two research-based programs, proven to significantly reduce violence against self, the family and the community. The two programs, Strengthening Families and Parent Pledge, educate parents on the social and judicial dangers of youth underage drinking.  The curricula will be delivered during weekly sessions to 60 parents over 12 weeks.  AzYP is also implementing Proyecto REGALOS (Raising Every Generation to Attain Lasting Opportunities for Success) in collaboration with Amistades, Inc.  AzYP is targeting Marana and Sahuarita while  Amistades is targeting the Flowing Wells neighborhood of Northwest Tucson.  Proyecto REGALOS combines Strengthening Families and Parent Pledge.  The curricula is being delivered during weekly sessions to a total of 72 parents.

Campesinos Sin Fronteras
Campesinos Sin Fronteras is implementing the Primero La Familia/Family First Program, to address the high rates of alcohol abuse and controlled substance use in the rural areas of Yuma County, Arizona.  The program increases and enhances parental involvement in community based prevention and intervention targeting the serious risks and public health problems caused by the abuse of alcohol and controlled substances.  The program uses multiple strategies aiming to increase parental involvement, these include: peer education groups, parent and caregiver community mobilization, implementation of the South Yuma County Anti-Drug Coalition Subcommittee, youth leadership development and a family/community theater production.

Crisis Activated Response Effort of Fountain Hills (C.A.R.E./FH)
CARE/FH is conducting a media campaign, mini-workshops, presentations, and key influencer interviews in order to recruit participant families from the target population of parents grades 8-12 in Fountain Hills to a proven effective parenting program.  This program, Staying Connected with your Teen, aims to educate parents, reduce risk factors, and increase protective factors that will lead to reductions in youth substance use.

Chicanos Por La Causa
The Parenting Arizona project increases and enhances parental involvement and increases education about the serious risks and public health problems caused by the abuse of alcohol and controlled substances.  Parenting Arizona is developing four parent resource centers at four elementary schools within Flagstaff Unified School District.  These centers will be staffed by Parent Resource Coordinators who will advocate for families and provide community homework.  Additionally, Parenting Arizona is implementing Kids FAST a family enrichment program, at the same four elementary schools.  The Families and Schools Together (FAST) family enrichment program is a two year program that involves parents as the primary prevention agent for their families.  FAST is a nationally recognized model program that, with the Parent Resource Center model, provides a comprehensive approach to parent involvement and the prevention of substance abuse in families.

Coconino County Juvenile Court
Coconino County Juvenile Court seeks to embed parent-inclusive processes into its work with parents who have children on probation in Flagstaff, Williams, and Page.  Information from focus groups with parents of delinquent children and research about court-involved families will be integrated into a series of workshops for probation officers to assist them in building stronger working relationships with parents of their probationers.  A parent guide and parenting tool box has been written and will be utilized by probation officers in working with parents.  A new parent education and support group program will gather parents’ input about the guide and tool box.  Each of these strategies is designed to support parents in effectively helping their children to graduate from the Step Up probation process and become productive and healthier citizens.

Community Bridges, Inc
Community Bridges Inc., Prevention Partnership provides the Circle of Hope, a parent education program for parents residing at homeless shelters.  The Circle of Hope was developed in response to the needs expressed by families and supported by research.  The Circle of Hope includes the facilitation of Support School Success and Guiding Good Choices, NIDA evidence based and SAMHSA model programs.  The program also includes staff training at each partner sites and family nights to provide an environment where families can spend time together and practice their newly developed skills.

Compass Health Care, Inc
The goal of the project is for the Community Prevention Coalition to target parents in Pima County through the development and implementation of multiple strategies that educate parents on the harms and consequences associated with youth alcohol and prescription drug use. The project teaches effective parenting skills and practices to engage parents in their child’s life as a protective factor, in order to reduce youth risk of alcohol and prescription drug use.  Parents become more informed on issues of youth alcohol use and the current prescription drug epidemic while learning to communicate with their youth in a way that positively impacts youth’s choices, which ultimately preventing youth alcohol and prescription drug use.

Improving Chandler Area Neighborhoods (ICAN)
ICAN is implementing Strengthening Multi Ethnic Families and Adult Peer Leadership with parents of youth ages 5-18.  Strengthening Multi Ethnic Families addresses violence and substance use prevention supporting the programs goal of improving parenting skills and decreasing family management problems.  The Adult Peer Leadership curriculum will address the program objectives of increasing parental knowledge and engagement through environmental strategies.

Jewish Family and Childrens Services of Southern Arizona
Embracing Challenges Creating Opportunities (ECCO) is a family-centered program that provides individual, group and family therapy to youth age 13-18 and their families, who have identified a substance use concern.  The program seeks to increase youth’s capacity to identify and manage signs of risk, and develop relapse prevention strategies/skills.  ECCO is focused on identifying and building upon client and family strengths, expanding coping skills, and developing healthy options for managing feelings and behaviors.  Strategies include: Individual 8-week therapy, 8-week group therapy, family group therapy, conjoint youth/parent group therapy, and sober socialization activities.

Justice Involved Youth with Children Initiative
The Parents Commission supports the Justice Involved Youth with Children (JIYWC) Initiative that seeks to address the issue of teen parents involved in the juvenile justice system, expand Arizona’s knowledge of this population and determine the types of programs/services that result in improved outcomes for these youth and their children.  The primary component of this Initiative is a pilot program targeting teen parents involved with the juvenile justice system at adjudicated youth sites located in Maricopa and Pinal Counties. 

Parent Institute for Quality Education, Arizona Quest for Kids
The Parents Commission supports the Parent Institute for Quality Education, one component of a comprehensive strategy to provide support for college graduation to low-income students.  The training is comprised of weekly meetings that demystify college and encourage and support parents in creating a home learning environment that is conducive to preparing for college.  The Institute also teaches parents how to navigate the school system, collaborate with teachers, counselors and principals, encourage college attendance, and support their child’s emotional and social development.  Parents Commission funds will provide approximately 900 parents with the knowledge and skills to improve the educational setting and personal development of their child.

Parker Area Alliance for Community Empowerment
Through the Strengthening Families Program, PAACE is bringing together parents and children as partners to support implementation of parent and family education activities.  Community-based training opportunities increase knowledge and awareness of risk and protective factors.  The program’s strategies are designed to reduce favorable attitudes toward alcohol, drug use, and violence, increase family bonding, and set healthy beliefs.

Phoenix Indian Center, Inc
Phoenix Indian Center is conducting a coordinated series of parent trainings using the Families in Action curriculum for American Indian parents in Flagstaff, Phoenix, and Tucson.  The Urban Indian Coalition of Arizona’s strategic plan includes an object to educate and inform the American Indian community on alcohol and other drug issues.

Pima County Juvenile Court Center
Pima County Family Drug Court (FDC) is offering the Celebrating Families training curriculum.  Central to this project is the acknowledgment that what came before substance use, often childhood trauma, and what must come after, community-based support for the entire family, are as important to recovery as the substance abuse treatment itself.  Addressing these areas is vital to halting generational substance abuse.  Through joint outreach efforts with Child Protective Services, eligible parents are identified early in their court dependency case.  Those accepted into FDC benefit from the support and accountability that are the foundation of drug courts, along with the help of a comprehensive Adult Recovery Team.  The model will gradually evolve into a group that is parent-directed and is made up of allies who are part of systems anchored in the community.  This model reinforces parental involvement in their recovery.

Pinal Hispanic Council
Parents Against Alcohol/Drugs, through Resiliency, Education, and Recovery’s (PADRES) to increase and enhance parental involvement and to increase parental knowledge about the serious risks and public health problems caused by the abuse of alcohol and controlled substances.  PADRES has two major goals:  to reduce alcohol and illegal drug/controlled substances use and to increase parent and family collaboration opportunities for prosocial involvement.  PADRES is targeting the communities of Picacho, Arizona City, Coolidge, and Eloy in Central Western Pinal County.  PADRES will serve a total of 250 parents by implementing a culture specific program methodology.

Southwest Behavioral Health Services, Inc
Southwest Behavioral Health Services is building on the strengths of the South Mountain community by enhancing those protective factors that exist among families.  The project utilizes research based culturally diverse models to recruit and train parents as adult peer leaders for the purpose of increasing and enhancing parental involvement.  As adult leaders, parents educate the community about the serious risks and public health problems caused by the abuse of alcohol in the South Mountain community.

Williams Unified School District
The Williams Unified School District’s (WUSD) Community Learning Center (CLC) is a grant-funded unit of WUSD established in spring 2002. By taking the lead role, the CLC is implementing programming to assist parents through a family-plus-school initiative to increase and enhance parental involvement, increase communication and embrace a vision of a healthier family.  The CLC is working toward a community that talks to their youth before they start drinking or using drugs.  The CLC is supported by WUSD Administration to increase parental involvement and provide a safe haven for parents who are resistant to participating in school-based activities due to prior negative experiences.  The creation of the CLC Family Involvement & Education Haven will provide opportunities to increase family school bonding.