DOJ supports Penquis’ Substance Affected Youth Program

BANGOR — The Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has granted over $740,000 in funding to support Penquis’ Substance Affected Youth Program for the next three years. This is one of ten grants awarded nationally under OJJDP’s FY24 Opioid Affected Youth Initiative.

Since 2019, Penquis’ SAY Program has been supporting youth ages 10-18 who have been affected by someone else’s opioid or other substance misuse. The program provides a variety of in-school and community training and works closely with middle and high schools in Penobscot and Piscataquis counties to provide in-school support, supportive education, relationship and resilience-building activities, and evidence-based life skills training to these youth.

The SAY Program helps to reduce the stigma for youths around discussing their experiences and to support them by finding connections in their communities. “A lot of the youth in this program had thought that they were the only ones with these experiences,” says Mike Gray, program manager. “After taking part in the program, numerous participants have found support from their peers who have gone through similar things.” The need for such a program is significant with more than a third (34.9 percent) of Maine’s high school students reporting that they have lived with an adult who had a problem with alcohol or drugs.

Currently, the SAY Program’s services are being delivered across six sites and serving 200 students. Participating youth demonstrate a number of positive outcomes, including greater school engagement, improved grades, healthy relationships, and healthy decision-making. “They [the SAY team members] have created genuine bonds with several students,” says a faculty member at one of the sites served. “They have become true mentors and role models for those students.”

To learn more about the SAY Program, contact Gray at 207-852-7396 or cmgray@penquis.org or Youth Resource Navigator Joe Costello at 207-852-9257 or jcostello@penquis.org. To learn more about the variety of programs and services at Penquis or to donate, call 207-973-3500 or go to Penquis.org.

Penquis is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1967 to assist individuals and families in increasing their financial stability. Penquis programs and services focus efforts in four key areas: housing stability, access to transportation, school readiness, and healthy lives. Through its programs and subsidiaries, Penquis affects all of Maine’s sixteen counties, but primarily individuals in Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Knox counties. Up to 5,000 people are served on any given day and more than 30,000 each year.