Girls Inc. of Chattanooga announces that it has received $25,500 from the Cardinal Health Foundation’s Generation Rx Prescription Drug Misuse Prevention Education for Youth grant program. The Generation Rx grant-funded program will be a youth led program that follows the successful design of the Girls Inc. IMPACT program. The original IMPACT program at Girls Inc. of Chattanooga committed to educating teenage girls about infant mortality and was recognized by the National Institute for Health Care Management as one of the most effective teen health advocacy programs in the country. It is with this same commitment to excellence that Girls Inc.
of Chattanooga will continue its teen health advocacy programming to encompass a prescription drug misuse prevention education platform.
“This grant will support our efforts to empower young ladies as leaders both in their communities and among their peers. The IMPACT participants become subject matter experts and change-makers ending prescription medication and opioid misuse in our region,” said Melissa Blevins, Girls Inc. CEO
Girls Inc. of Chattanooga was one of more than 40 organizations across Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia to receive a prevention education grant from the Cardinal Health Foundation. As part of Cardinal Health’s Opioid Action Program, the Prescription Drug Misuse Prevention Education for Youth grants are designed to expand medication safety education for thousands of students in K-12 schools and universities, using Generation Rx educational materials.
"All of the organizations selected for funding share our goal of turning the tide on the opioid epidemic," said Jessie Cannon, vice president of Community Relations at Cardinal Health. "Ultimately, we expect our grantees to learn from each other—and we will learn from them. As they develop best practices, our goal is to spread this work throughout the country, and foster solutions to this complex public health crisis.”