Four Iowa cities are getting a combined 720-thousand dollars from the Iowa Department of Public Health to fight meth and other drugs. Department deputy director Janet Zwick says Clinton, Des Moines, Mason City and Mt.Pleasant were awarded the funding.She says this is federal money from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration, and she says each city will receive 60-thousand dollars a year for three years. Zwick says the goal is drug prevention and education.She says they’ll work with youth and their families to prevent substance abuse, including meth addiction. And she says they’ll work with community coalitions on environmental strategies — or things within the environment that could be changed to prevent substance abuse. Zwick won’t say the communities are hotbeds of drug activity, but she says they do have a need for education. She says this was a competitive process, with about eight communities making bids. She says they were asked to show where they had gaps in drug education and prevention as part of the process. Here are the organizations in the communities that will receive the funds: Clinton – Area Substance Abuse Council – New Directions, partnering with the Clinton Substance Abuse Council and the Clinton Community School District; Des Moines – Employee and Family Resources, partnering with the Community Connections Coalition and serving the Saydel, Southeast Polk, and West Des Moines school districts; Mason City – Prairie Ridge Addiction Treatment Service, partnering with the Mason City Youth Task Force and Mason City Community Schools; Mt. Pleasant – Henry County Extension, partnering with the Healthy Henry County Communities Coalition and the Winfield-Mount Union, WACO, New London and Mt. Pleasant school districts.
