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The Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund (DSCIF) - At a Glance

About the Fund

Illicit drug use is a serious concern for all Canadians. In the 2007 Federal Budget, the Government of Canada announced the National Anti-Drug Strategy with a goal of improving the health, safety and security of Canadians by addressing both the demand for and supply of illegal drugs in Canada. Building on existing drug-related initiatives, it enhances collaboration and strong working partnerships between the federal, provincial and territorial governments, non-government organizations and communities.

Health Canada, via the Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund (DSCIF), contributes to reducing illicit drug use among youth ages 10 to 24 by funding health promotion and prevention projects. A logic model providing a visual picture of the DSCIF activities, outputs and outcomes (immediate, intermediate and long term), as well as a copy of DSCIF Glossary of Key Concepts and Terms, are available upon request.

DSCIF is delivered by national and regional offices located in Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Regina, Edmonton, Vancouver and Whitehorse.

The primary target population of the DSCIF are youth ages 10-24. The DSCIF reach extends to the level of communities and engages a range of intermediaries and stakeholders in order to reduce illicit drug use among the youth population. The primary categories of intermediaries includes the parents of youth, educators, health service providers, social service providers, recreation and sport service providers, enforcement officials and other groups who may play an influencing role on or provide services to youth. Stakeholders include all orders of government, as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), professional associations, and the private sector that have an interest in addressing the issue of illicit drug use among youth.

Meaningful youth engagement is considered essential for success in designing and implementing a project. Projects must show measurable results in the prevention or reduction of illicit drug use among youth.

2009-2010 Call for Proposals

Priorities

In keeping with a focus on preventing illicit drug use among youth ages of 10-24, this Call for Proposals (CFP) invites applications that give priority to the following two streams using Universal, Selective and/or Indicated prevention strategies:

Targeting general youth population by focusing on illicit drugs most likely to be "tried" by this group, and addressing the contexts/situations that often give rise to their trials.
- This first stream addresses the Universal prevention category and targets the prevention of illicit drug use in the general public (e.g. national, community) or a whole population group (e.g. parents of young people, students, young drivers). Universal does not distinguish level of risk within those target populations.
Targeting specific populations of youth most likely to become engaged in illicit drug use focussing on discouraging the initiation of use and/or preventing the progression to more frequent or regular use among youth. This second stream addresses the Selective and/or Indicated prevention categories and target sub-populations of young people who demonstrate risk factors associated with illicit drug use (e.g. a drug-using parent, friends who use drugs, family dysfunction, environmental, e.g. living in neighbourhoods where illicit drugs are readily available and/or and easily accessible to them). The populations being targeted are:
- Street involved youth or youth at risk of becoming street involved;
- Youth in care (e.g., child welfare system);
- Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and two-spirit youth; and
- Aboriginal youth (off-reserve).

Please note that the DSCIF is a health promotion and prevention program that does not fund early intervention treatment services such as:

Assessment and referral: A comprehensive assessment is carried out to match the nature and extent of illicit drug use problems with the type of intervention needed. Referral to appropriate youth related resource(s) is a key service component.
Brief interventions: interventions that have a limited number of helping sessions administered over limited or brief time periods to encourage youth to think about their drug using behaviour. Brief interventions may incorporate cognitive behavioural approaches, motivational interviewing concepts, and a focus on the clients' strengths.
Case management: Treatment of illicit drug use often involves a variety of services. Coordinated case management aims to ensure continuity of care when addressing the multiple needs of youth to maximize the benefits from other treatment and rehabilitation services.
Screening: a brief youth-focused process that collects information in only enough detail to determine immediate needs and next steps in the assessment/treatment process. The screening process can also provide information to assist youth in clarifying their own position regarding next steps.

In addition to the targeted nature of this CFP, preference will be given to proposals that:

Address geographic gaps;
Involve direct youth engagement;
Involve a broader reach; and
Are from organizations that have a clear prevention and health promotion mandate

Related to all of the above, various regions will also have region-specific priorities.

Outcomes

All project activities must support at least one of the following DSCIF outcomes for the target population or community:

Increased awareness and understanding of healthy lifestyle choices, and of illicit drugs and their negative consequences. This outcome is based on the premise that increasing awareness and understanding of healthy lifestyle choices will help prevent youth from using illicit drugs.
Acquired/improved capacity (knowledge and skills development) to avoid illicit drug use. This outcome moves beyond the awareness and understanding that is achieved at the immediate level by focusing more specifically on developing or improving the targeted population's capacity to avoid illicit drug use.
Increased engagement of community structures, and networks in activities to promote healthy lifestyle choices & prevent illicit drug use among youth. This outcome is linked to the extent to which both existing and/or newly engaged community structures / networks have been involved in activities to promote healthy lifestyle choices & prevent illicit drug use among youth.

Evaluation

The evaluation of both individual projects and the DSCIF overall is very important. As such all recipients will be required to conduct:

A process evaluation of their project.
Process evaluations examine project activities to assess whether the project is being offered in the way it was intended and to identify areas where project administration and delivery can be improved. This evaluation will be managed by the recipient yet third-party evaluators can be used and is encouraged.
An outcome evaluation of their project.
Outcome evaluations report on the extent to which short and long-term outcomes are achieved, and how the project contributed to DSCIF outcomes.

All projects recipients will also be expected to participate in a cluster evaluation, where projects with similar outcomes are grouped together and considered collectively. Cluster evaluations will be managed by Health Canada.

Organizations are encouraged to see evaluation as a learning tool and to understand that all outcomes, including those that are different from the original proposal, can be educational and useful in the development of enhanced community efforts to reduce and prevent illicit drug use among youth.

Submission of Application

Note: The National Office is not accepting applications for projects of national scope at this time. For further information please contact the Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund national office.

For further details, including additional regional requirements, closing date for this call and contact information for your region, please visit:

Alberta
Atlantic
British Columbia
Manitoba/Saskatchewan
North (Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Yukon)
Ontario
Quebec

Where indicated, please contact the Health Canada representative in the region prior to submitting a proposal.

Please provide two (2) completed signed and dated copies, as well as an electronic copy of the Proposal Application Form, including all attachments (e.g. workplan, evaluation plan, budget, letters of partnership, audited financial statements and other related documents) to your DSCIF regional office. Electronic copies can be submitted by e-mail, CD or floppy disk.

Applications must be submitted and received no later than the closing date indicated on your Health Canada Regional Web page. Faxed applications will not be accepted. However, electronic signatures or fax signatures of the signature page will be accepted.

Please consult with the DSCIF Program officials in your region if you have questions regarding the scope of your proposal.

For more information about the Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund and its application process, please refer to:

Selection Process

Proposals will be reviewed by Health Canada officials to determine their eligibility under the DSCIF criteria and, if appropriate, to provide technical assistance regarding the further development of eligible submissions. Once complete, these proposals undergo a detailed assessment that normally includes consultation with provincial or territorial governments, substance use/abuse experts and/or community representatives. Decisions resulting from the review process are final. There is no formal appeal process for the Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund program.