The Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies in the University of Nevada, Reno’s Division of Health Sciences is one of six entities to be awarded approximately $8.7 million dollars of funding during the next five years by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (SAMHSA/CSAP) to expand its integrated Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies (CAPT).

The grant enhances the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention’s efforts to prevent and reduce substance abuse and associated public health issues across the lifespan for several groups such as returning veterans and their families as well as young adults (18-24 years old).

In this role, CASAT will be the Western Regional Expert Team serving 17 states and jurisdictions. The team consists of regionally based experts who reflect the diversity of their regions and have the ability to serve varied demographic, language and cultural groups. The Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies will leverage and coordinate the work done in each of the five existing regional CAPT centers. The collaboration also creates a more powerful and unified national approach.

“We are excited to have been awarded this subcontract from the Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) to serve our region with integrated substance-abuse prevention services,” said Julie Hogan, director of the current Center for Substance Abuse Prevention’s Western Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies in Reno. “We will use this funding to provide training and technical assistance to numerous clients in the western United States.”

CASAT is a regional subcontract partner with the Education Development Center, Inc. The center is a global nonprofit organization that develops, delivers and evaluates innovative programs to address some of the world’s most urgent challenges in education, health and economic development. Celebrating its 50th year, EDC today manages more than 300 projects in 35 countries.

“SAMHSA/CSAP is committed to making the case for prevention,” said Frances Harding, SAMHSA/CSAP director. “We have the research of what works to prevent and reduce substance use. We know how to build and work with community and state prevention systems. The CAPT contract is a critical and important tool to help SAMHSA/CSAP advance the substance-abuse prevention agenda. We can reinforce and sustain sound prevention practice at the local, state and national levels.”

In addition, the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention continues its partnership with the U.S. Department of Education to provide additional resources for assistance to grantees supported under the Grants to Reduce Alcohol Abuse Program, designed to reduce underage drinking.

“We are thrilled to have this remarkable opportunity to serve the nation and leverage what the regional CAPT system has accomplished for the past decade,” said Cheryl Vince Whitman, Education Development Center senior vice president and director of the Health and Human Development Programs division. “The new system builds on all that has been learned, and will continue to serve the regions and their particular audiences and needs. It unites us all to share and draw on collective resources to achieve CSAP’s mission to prevent and reduce the toll of substance abuse in an increasingly diverse America,” she said.

The other five entities receiving grant funding are CRP, Inc.; Minnesota Institute for Public Health; Social Science Research and Evaluation; the University of Oklahoma and Westat.