Minnesota State Incentive Grant, Synopsis of Final Case Report

Since the early 1990s, the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) has shifted from supporting independent prevention activities in states and localities to focusing on comprehensive prevention strategies. The State Incentive Grant (SIG) program, launched in 1997, was described by CSAP as representing a major step toward increasingly comprehensive and coordinated prevention programming at both the local and state levels. Participating states have received three years of funding at approximately $3 million a year. The ultimate purpose of the SIG initiative is to prevent or reduce substance abuse among youth ages 12-17 years by re-engineering the process of prevention programming. In this report we focus on summarizing Minnesota’s work between 1999 and 2002 related to the development of a comprehensive, statewide prevention strategy, including the coordination of prevention funding. Findings are presented regarding the key elements of the SIG program and Minnesota’s approach that were put in motion to re-engineer the ATOD prevention system; the characteristics of 22 local grantees that received SIG funds; and the re-engineering outcomes achieved as of the end of 2002. A full description of the methods used to collect and analyze information related to the Minnesota SIG initiative is included in Appendix A. II.