The Orono Coalition's mission is to support the well-being of youth and their families by preventing and reducing youth substance use while promoting mental wellness, healthy development, and connectedness. We believe in holding space for both hope and concern related to our community's health. By addressing our community's unique risk factors and increasing the protective factors,  we can strengthen our culture and the well-being of our youth, families and community members.

​

We work on a variety of connectedness and well-being initiatives, including: drug and alcohol education and best practices, local public health policies, opportunities to promote belonging, suicide prevention, mental health promotion, public health promotion and anything that relates to improving our strong community norms. 

​

We are nearly all volunteers representing more than twelve different sectors within the community, including: business, civic/volunteer organizations, health care, government, law enforcement, media, other substance abuse organizations, parents, religious organizations, school, youth, and youth-serving organizations. We rely heavily on collaboration to support our efforts to positively impact our community. 

​

The Orono Coalition serves the Orono School District boundaries but reaches communities all across the state, including our open-enrolled families. While we have a strong focus on youth and families, everyone in the community is part of our 'pond' and matters to us. We have initiatives and strategies geared towards everyone.

 

We are funded through the federal Drug-Free Communities Support Grant, supporting the coalition through 2028 and hopefully through 2033! The grant supports our staff position so we rely heavily on financial support from other community groups, stakeholders and organizations! We could not do this alone!

​