Shaheen, Hassan Announce Resources for Substance Use Disorder Youth Mentoring Program at Nashua Boys and Girls Club

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the lead Democrat of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the Department of Justice (DOJ), announced with Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) that Eluna—a non-profit organization that assists children impacted by substance use disorder—received $500,000 in federal funding through the DOJ’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) for their Camp Mariposa program, which operates sites in Nashua and Dayton, Ohio. The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Nashua partners with Eluna for the substance misuse prevention and mentoring program.

Senator Shaheen was instrumental in securing this funding for OJJDP and wrote a letter in support of Eluna’s grant application. “The substance use disorder epidemic touches every community in New Hampshire, putting so many children at risk,” said Senator Shaheen. “It’s our duty to protect the next generation which is why I’ve prioritized funding in Congress for local organizations and programs that protect at-risk youth. I am very pleased to announce this grant from the Department of Justice, which will help Eluna provide targeted group and peer mentoring services to young people who have been exposed to substance use in their homes. I’ll keep fighting for additional resources in the Senate to ensure children who have been affected by this epidemic have the support they need and deserve.”

“The substance misuse epidemic has impacted far too many young people in the Granite State, and has placed many of them at higher risk for opioid abuse and criminal behavior due to their exposure to addiction,” Senator Hassan said. “I am pleased to announce this grant from the Department of Justice to Eluna to help fund an addiction prevention and mentoring program in Nashua that will work to improve the wellbeing of our young people, and keep them on the right path.”  

Senator Shaheen and the New Hampshire congressional delegation have fought to ensure that Granite State communities have the resources they need to battle the substance use disorder epidemic. Shaheen and Hassan also helped negotiate the bipartisan agreement in 2018 that outlined the two years of opioid response spending – totaling $6 billion to respond to the opioid crisis. This included the set-aside funding for states with the highest mortality rates, like New Hampshire. This critical additional funding, which the Senators helped broker, has been included by Congress over the last two fiscal years. As a result of the Delegation’s efforts, New Hampshire received a more than ten-fold increase in opioid treatment funding through the State Opioid Response grant program. Shaheen has also recently unveiled sweeping new substance use disorder legislation, the Turn the Tide Act—which Senator Hassan cosponsored—to help tackle the substance use epidemic and provide resources for Granite Staters struggling with substance misuse. The Turn the Tide Act provides $63 billion in funding over ten years to deliver flexible treatment funding to providers, establish proven prevention programs and address the substantial workforce challenges in the treatment field. Congresswoman Kuster is the lead sponsor of the legislation in the House.

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