The Rose That Grew from Concrete: How the District of Columbia Rebuilt Its Prevention System from the Ground to Better Serve an Urban, Culturally Diverse Population and Used Prevention Science Data to Shape Policy and Planning

This presentation will demonstrate how the District of Columbia’s Addiction, Prevention, and Recovery Administration (APRA) rebuilt its prevention system from the ground to better serve an urban, culturally diverse population. This presentation will also demonstrate how the District’s new prevention system used prevention science data to shape policy and planning.

The District occupies a distinctive place as the nation’s capital and the seat of the federal government. The District is divided into eight Wards with 120 diverse and historic neighborhoods. The District’s population of 601,423 residents is composed of approximately 51% blacks, 38% whites, and 9% Hispanics.  The development of a prevention system that is responsive to the needs of an urban culturally diverse population is critical.

The prevention system that the District developed focused on capacity building and leadership development as the key components for sustained community change at the organizational and system’s level and sustained outcomes at the programmatic level. Systems level outcomes included the development of Ward-level Prevention Centers designed to mobilize and facilitate community change; a Youth Leadership Corps designed to engage District youth in action planning and implementation; a Prevention Leadership Center designed to centralize and more effectively facilitate key substance abuse prevention infrastructure components including: training and technical assistance, social marketing, research and evaluation, and implementation of evidence-based prevention programming/strategies. One of the policy outcomes from the District’s new prevention system is the classification of synthetic marijuana as a Schedule I drug, the same category as heroin and crack cocaine. Those caught making, distributing, or importing the drug will face the same criminal charges and imprisonment as with any other Schedule I drug. The use of prevention science data to inform policy and planning has been an important component of the District’s prevention system.