Boys & Girls Clubs of the TN Valley's OJJDP Juvenile Mentoring Program for Youth Affected by the Opiod Use will serve 300 youth across 22 Club sites in our 5 County service area in East TN.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley proposes to implement the Prevention Works Youth Mentoring Program, serving at least 300 youth (ages 5-18) annually who primarily come from low-income households, attending Clubs in city-centered, at-risk, and rural communities in Knox, Blount, Loudon, Anderson, and Claiborne Counties that lack access to necessary prevention and mental health resources. Targeted services implemented through the program will benefit at least 300, upward to 450 (due to attraction and engaging new youth over the three-year project period) youth and families annually through intensive program support services who have had, currently have, or are at high-risk for ACEs/ trauma –and therefore at increased risk for future substance use. Expected outcomes include improved social-emotional skills and academic success, building positive relationships with adult mentors and peers, and reducing youth and community opioid and substance misuse, alternatively, improving the quality of life for youth who have been exposed to substance misuse to live happily, healthy, engaged lives with optimistic hopes and plans for the future.