Dangers of Fentanyl Activation Grants, by the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth
About the Dangers of Fentanyl Lesson
Youth across the Commonwealth do not understand the serious harm that fentanyl poses to their health, and teachers lack the resources to keep them informed. In response to this challenge, the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth (VFHY) developed the Dangers of Fentanyl Lesson to educate high school students about the evolving dangers of fentanyl. The evidenced-informed Lesson is free to download and can be used in any high school classroom across the Commonwealth. It is available in both English and Spanish.
The Grant Opportunity
To encourage the implementation of the Lesson, VFHY is providing up to twenty-five (25) $4,000 Activation Grants. Nonprofits, for-profits, schools, school systems, governmental organizations, and charitable organizations operating in Virginia are eligible to apply. This is a competitive process.
Organization must agree to the following three grant requirements:
Train at least two staff members in the utilization of the Lesson. Training consists of watching a one-hour video, reviewing the Implementation Guide, and familiarizing oneself with the Lesson.
Administer the hour-long Lesson and an anonymous 10-question pre and posttest to at least 200 high school students between January and August 2025. We ask that you review your pre and posttests to better understand how well youth are learning the information in the Lesson, but you do not need to report the results to VFHY.
Provide feedback to VFHY on the Lesson via a short feedback survey no later than September 1, 2025.
Application Timeline
To begin, click here. If your organization does not already have a grant portal account, you will be prompted to create a new one before you can view the Dangers of Fentanyl Activation Grant Application.
The online application is due by Monday, December 2nd (5:00 pm). We estimate it will take around 15 minutes to complete.
If you are selected, the contract period begins January 1, 2025.
The three grant requirements must be completed by September 1, 2025.
Participating organizations may invoice VFHY for the $4,000 following their completion of the grant requirements. There are no restrictions on how organizations spend their award.
If you have questions, contact VFHY Director of Programs Michael Parsons at mparsons@vfhy.org.
Traumatic and Adverse Childhood Experiences and Developmental Differences in Psychiatric Risk, in JAMA Psychiatry
key takeaway: "At baseline assessment (year 0), exposure to nearly every adversity component was associated with poorer mental health and diminished cognitive ability. Yet across time, it was observed that different forms of adversity were variably linked to both increases and decreases in internalizing and externalizing problems. For example, while peer aggression (t = 5.31) and family conflict (t = 5.67) were associated with increases in both internalizing and externalizing problems over early adolescence, community threat (t = 2.82) and poverty (t = 2.07) were linked to decreased problems, potentially representing adaptive suppression of symptoms. Finally, adversity types related to resource deprivation (eg, poverty, caregiver maladjustment) were associated with declines in cognitive ability over early adolescence."