About Partners in Routt County

In 1995, a group of concerned local citizens and youth service professionals came together to form a grassroots committee intent on starting a mentoring organization in Routt County. The purpose was to address local youths’ increasing levels of high risk behaviors related to substance use, interpersonal disputes, and lack of protective factors such as “social support from adults” and “positive social norms.” Mentoring services was identified as an effective strategy to affect positive changes in the emerging population of youth facing a variety of challenges. After researching several models, the committee contacted Partners Mentoring Association and was given assistance to develop Partners in Routt County (PRC) operating the Community Based Mentoring model. In 1996, PRC was granted 501(c)(3) non-profit status by the IRS and remains the only mentoring organization in the county.

Responding to the needs identified by school administrators for additional support for their students who were at risk for school disengagement due to similar challenges listed above, the School Based Mentoring Program was started in 2000 by Rocky Mountain Youth Corps (RMYC). PRC continued to collaborate with RMYC prior to assuming full fiscal and programmatic responsibility in 2006.

Today we serve over 200 youth a year through our CBM and SBM programs.

Partners in Routt County (PRC) is incorporated in the State of Colorado as Partners in Routt County, Inc. PRC is a 501(c)(3) federally tax exempt organization in good standing with the Internal Revenue Service and the Colorado Secretary of State's Office (Colorado Charitable Solicitation Act).

Partners is a member in good standing of the Partners Mentoring Association and meets the accreditation standards for quality mentoring services.

About Grand Futures Prevention Coalition

Mission & Vision

Healthy communities where positive lifestyle choices are the norm.
To prevent substance abuse among youth and young adults in Northwest Colorado.

Grand Futures Prevention Coalition is a community resource for substance abuse prevention in Northwest Colorado that has been in existence since 1990, with offices in Routt, Moffat and Grand counties. We take a three-pronged approach focusing on youth development, education for trusted adults and community engagement. Through positive youth development we aim to empower young people to make healthy, positive, substance free choices. By educating trusted adults, our goal is to ensure that adult leaders serve as role models for our youth to positively influence choices and behavior surrounding substance use. To further ensure a unified message, we strive to educate the community at large about the impacts of substance use and misuse for our youth.

History

The Grand Futures Community Partnership was founded in 1990 in Grand County, CO as a division of the 14th Judicial District Attorney's Office. The purpose of the partnership was to address the growing drug and alcohol problems the DA’s office was seeing among local youth by establishing a dedicated group who could focus on substance abuse prevention efforts for children in Grand County.

The agency's primary focus was, and still is, to provide substance abuse prevention activities, education, and training to youth and adults. In 1995, Grand Futures Community Partnership expanded to Moffat and Routt Counties to address similar issues among youth in these two rural counties, and became Grand Futures Prevention Coalition (GFPC).

In 1997, GFPC received a Drug Free Communities grant, obtained its 501(c)(3) status and became independent of the District Attorney's office.

our work

Each GFPC county office operates distinctly to best meet the needs of the individual communities, while sharing best practices between offices and working to achieve the coalition mission “ to prevent substance abuse among youth and young adults in Northwest Colorado.” GFPC continues to offer diverse programming across the 3 counties to advance our mission, and is the only organization in the region with dedicated resources to provide a broad range of substance abuse education and awareness programs for youth. We serve approximately 52,000 people in 11 communities within our three counties annually. Today, GFPC has become a leader in the State of Colorado for prevention policy work. Our accomplishments in this area include leading the efforts to pass a Social Host Ordinance in Steamboat Springs and Craig, which makes it illegal for an adult to allow underage drinking and drug use in a private home. We also partnered with the Grand County Sheriff’s Department to improve alcohol sales compliance from 10% to 70%.

GFPC has established 5 Teen Councils across our region and supports these youth leaders’ efforts to offer substance-free activities for their peers. We collaborate with each Teen Council to identify educational opportunities for these kids to attend in order for them to better serve as leading voices among their peers to inform them about the dangers of substances and discourage their use. Additionally, we teach BrainWise and All Stars after-school programs to help build critical thinking skills and educate middle school and high school students about substance abuse prevention.

As a constellation partner of Rise Above Colorado, a statewide drug abuse prevention organization, we are able to access statewide resources with proven effectiveness in changing perception of harm and social norms related to methamphetamines and prescription drugs. While our primary focus is substance abuse prevention and education for youth, we work closely with the Yampa Valley Rx Task Force and Moffat County HOPE (Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education) to provide prevention education and awareness specific to opioid and prescription medication misuse and abuse for adults. GFPC is also intimately involved with the Communities That Care initiative in each county, which is a cooperative, youth focused, community-driven process that supplements existing prevention work to reduce problematic behaviors that affect our communities.