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Wlaf1450A NOTE FROM THE GRAND ON CENTRAL: “There is so much good going on in our community, and I want to share all this good with you every Monday here on WLAF in hopes that you will start your week in a grand way making each week a Grand Week,” said Olivia Lobertini, owner of The Grand on Central.
By Charlotte Underwood
JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- Campbell United, Campbell County’s anti-drug coalition announced it has received a $600,000 grant, the Drug Free Communities (DFC) Grant at Thursday’s meeting held at TCAT Jacksboro.
The Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program grant will provide $125,000 per year for five years to Campbell County’s anti-drug coalitions to prevent youth substance use, according to Trent Coffey, who is the executive director of Scott County’s STAND Coalition and who has helped get Campbell County’s program up and running over the past two years. Coffey also has just been appointed by President Donald Trump as the Assistant Deputy Director of Use & Prevention Grants in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
According to Coffey, this “Drug Free Community Grant is an end-all, be-all grant” that is going to do amazing things for the area. After the five years of the grant is up, there is the possibility to renew the grant for another five years.
“This grant will “help bring coalition infrastructure to Campbell County and will help build partnerships and relationships and build a coalition that is one of the best in the country. It is designed to help the coalition build partnerships, infrastructure, school programs, community programs, recovery programs and different things like that,” Coffey said.
The DFC Support Program, established by the Drug-Free Communities Act of 1997, is administered by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in partnership with the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Its “primary goal is to mobilize community coalitions to prevent and reduce youth substance use by addressing local risk factors and promoting protective factors in the community.”
Campbell United has been going strong for over two years now, working towards a drug free community through partnerships, and the investment of local community leaders who meet monthly in an effort to connect people to resources, providing more education and overall community awareness of substance abuse problems.
According to organizers, anti-drug coalitions greatly reduce drug usage in their areas and the amount of drug overdoses.
“This grant will help in assessing the community, knowing it and when you know your community, then you know what to address and you search for the funding. Drug Free Communities Funding will lead to ten times more funding just like this as we go along,” Coffey said.
This grant will allow Campbell County to develop school programs such as the one in Scott County, which is operated by Vickie Jones who is the director of the Youth Service-Learning Initiative (YSLI) which is a program in the two high schools in Scott County operated through their county’s anti-drug coalition. Scott County’s anti-drug coalition, the Stand, has been in Scott County for around 20 years.
Through the initiative, Jones spends two days a week at Scott High and two days a week at Oneida High and will soon be spending time in Campbell County.
“We go into the schools, and we talk to the kids. It’s all about prevention,” Jones said.
Campbell United’s Director Charlsa Honeycutt said the Drug Free Community Grant will be “ground-breaking for Campbell County.”
“I am all excited to be getting in the schools with prevention programs to help these kids,” Honeycutt said.
Campbell United Assistant Director Kaylee Queener said that establishing youth programs in the schools like Jones has helped establish in Scott County is going to make a huge difference for students and drug prevention.
“We would not be able to start these programs without this grant,” Queener said.
Other exciting news shared at Thursday’s Campbell United meeting was the establishment of an office space in LaFollette.
Vantage Point Financial, which is a fairly new business in the community, “purchased the building across from the LaFollette Church of God and next to Papa Johns, has graciously given the coalition a very big discount on rent,” according to Coffey. Campbell United office space will be located in the Ameriprise building on the upper floor.
“Vantage Point Financial has been a great partner and offered it to us at a very good rate and for them being a great partner we want to thank them and recognize them,” Coffey said. He also wanted to recognize TCAT Jacksboro, who “graciously is going to provide furniture for that office space, since the college will soon be moving into its own new building.
Campbell United’s office space is supposed to be up and running by early October.
“It’s all about having buy-in from the community and great partnerships,” Coffey said.
A NOTE FROM THE GRAND ON CENTRAL: “There is so much good going on in our community, and I want to share all this good with you every Monday here on WLAF in hopes that you will start your week in a grand way making each week a Grand Week,” said Olivia Lobertini, owner of The Grand on Central.
For bookings, email Olivia Lobertini at ohlobertini03@gmail.com. Check on avails HERE. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-08/17/2026-6AM)