Schools + Parents
Drug-Free Communities

The Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program is the nation’s leading effort to mobilize communities to prevent and reduce substance use among youth. The program, created in 1997 by the Drug-Free Communities Act is administered by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and managed through a partnership between ONDCP and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It provides grants to community coalitions to strengthen the infrastructure among local partners to create and sustain a reduction in local youth substance use.

Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Coalitions are community-based formal arrangements for cooperation and collaboration among community groups or sectors. Each group retains its identity and agrees to work together toward a common goal.

Representatives from 12 sectors organize and meet to address local youth substance use. Together, as a coalition, they are driven by local conditions to implement local solutions that will build a safe, healthy and drug-free community.

The 12 sectors are:

  • Youth
  • Parents
  • Business
  • Media
  • School
  • Youth-serving organizations
  • Law enforcement
  • Religious or fraternal organizations
  • Civic or volunteer groups
  • Healthcare professional or organizations
  • State, local and tribal government agencies
  • Other local organizations involved in reducing substance use

In October 2019, the Beach Cities Partnership for Youth Coalition was awarded its first fiscal year of the DFC grant in the amount of $125,000 by ONDCP. The grant term is five years with total funding expected to be $625,000. The Coalition serves the Beach Cities of Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach in California, a community of 123,398 people. Read the press release here.

Steering Committee: This group of community leaders will serve in an advisory capacity to guide the work of the Coalition and the Drug-Free Communities Grant.

  • Byung Cho, Board Member, Redondo Beach Unified School District
  • Silas Cole, Director of Programs, The Volunteer Center South Bay/Harbor/Long Beach
  • Stephanie Dryer, Founding President, National League of Young Men South Bay Chapter  
  • Moe Gelbart, PhD, Executive Director, Thelma McMillen Recovery Center, Torrance Memorial
  • Sylvia Gluck, Executive Director of Administrative Services, Hermosa Beach City School District
  • Cathey Graves, President, Manhattan Beach Unified School District
  • Lisa Greenstone, MA, Community Member and Manhattan Beach Unified School District Parent  
  • Catherine Barrow, Board Member, Hermosa Beach City School District
  • Alice Kuo, MD, PhD, MBA, Professor and Chief, UCLA Internal Medicine and Pediatrics
  • Jason Kurtenbach, Executive Director of Student Services, Redondo Beach Unified School District
  • Paul LeBaron, Chief, Hermosa Beach Police Department
  • Rachel Lloyd, LMFT, Supervisor of Youth Mental Health Project, South Bay Children’s Health Center
  • Kristine Lloyd-Tangermann, Prevention Program Specialist, Substance Abuse Prevention & Control, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
  • Sebastian Martin, Executive Director of Operations, New Life House   
  • Laura McIntire, Founder, South Bay Families Connected
  • Vanessa Poster, President, Beach Cities Health District Board of Directors
  • Kerry Riccio Aguero, Director of Student Services, Manhattan Beach Unified School District
  • Issac Yang, Division Chief, Redondo Beach Fire Department

*Student Representative will be appointed with Youth Advisory Council 2024-25

For more information, please contact Emory Chen, Youth Services Director, at emory.chen@bchd.org.