Alleghany Highlands Mentoring Project

The Mentoring Opportunities for Youth Initiative, Category 4 (Project Sites and Mentoring Strategies for Youth Impacted by Opioids and Drug Addiction) supports youth mentoring organizations that have a demonstrated partnership with a public or private substance abuse treatment agency. The focus of this category is to provide mentoring services as a part of a prevention, treatment and supportive approach for those youth impacted by opioids and drug addiction. This program is authorized and funded pursuant to Pub. L. No. 116-93, 133 Stat. 2317, 2410.

Total Action for Progress (TAP) will serve a target population of youth ages 10–17 residing in the Alleghany Highlands, a rural, sparsely populated community comprising Covington City and Alleghany County, Virginia. Targeted youth will be those who are abusing or have abused opioids, are at risk of abusing opioids, or who have family members who are currently abusing or have abused opioids. TAP’s goal is to improve prosocial outcomes, facilitate improved relationships with parents and guardians, and improve school outcomes among these at-risk youth in the service area while reducing negative outcomes (antisocial behavior, juvenile delinquency, and substance abuse) through mentoring. TAP will serve at least 20 youth each year (for a total of 60 youth served) with a combination of evidence-based programs chosen for their research base, their applicability to rural areas stricken by the opioid epidemic, and their ability to fill in the missing services in the Alleghany Highlands. TAP’s training of mentors will include a focus on trauma-informed care to help mentors understand and respond constructively to counterproductive attitudes and behaviors displayed by mentees. The total mentoring intervention will include three curricula with small group and one-to-one mentoring enhanced by ongoing staff monitoring and family engagement. Partnering providers include the community’s primary substance abuse treatment agency, the local YMCA, local law enforcement agencies, and local religious congregations. During the course of the 3-year project, TAP will recruit 75 mentors and serve 60 mentees. The project will achieve the following: 75 percent of mentees will demonstrate improved social competence, reduce/not use drugs or alcohol, and demonstrate decreased antisocial behavior; 90 percent of youth will successfully complete their current academic grade; and less than 20 percent of youth will offend during their participation in the project. CA/NCF