Governor Newsom announces $47 million in grants to help prevent substance use among California youth, including supports for struggling young men and boys

Investing in healthier and safer communities

This funding is part of a larger effort by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to strengthen the state’s substance use disorder prevention programs. Specifically, through Elevate Youth California (EYC), a statewide program that prioritizes youth leadership, the state provides funding to youth-serving organizations through community-driven approaches to support young people. Programs funded are healing-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally and linguistically responsive, while prioritizing harm reduction and public health strategies that build resilience and prevent substance abuse. 

“This funding empowers youth to lead change in their communities,” said DHCS Director Michelle Baass. “By supporting culturally responsive, peer-led programs, we’re investing in the resilience and long-term wellness of California’s young people.” 

Each organization will receive up to $1 million in total over a three-year period, from January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2028, to implement this program. 

This investment also builds on Governor Newsom’s executive order to improve mental health and wellness among young men and boys, and empower them through service and leadership. 

The crisis of loneliness

These community-led mentorship programs efforts to reduce substance abuse are crucial for young men and boys, who die of drug overdoses two to three times the rate of women. The funding contributes to Governor Newsom’s efforts to engage young men and boys, who too often are struggling with isolation and substance abuse. 

Young men are more disconnected from school, work, and relationships than ever before, with nearly one in four men under 30 years old reporting that they have no close friends, a five-fold increase since 1990, with higher rates of disconnection for young Black men. A lack of social connection is associated with increased risk of poor health, including mental health disorders, poverty, and even premature death. 

Recently, California launched the Men’s Service Challenge which calls upon 10,000 young men to step up as mentors, coaches and tutors — a program that is in the same spirit of the EYC grants – to address the mental health crisis facing young men and invest in communities across the state. 

The impact

Since this program launched in 2019, DHCS has awarded more than $370 million through 517 grants. EYC is funded by Proposition 64, passed by voters in November 2016, which legalized adult non-medical marijuana use in California and created a tax system to regulate cannabis sales. 

A portion of that tax revenue supports EYC through DHCS, funding youth-focused prevention and leadership programs statewide. 

“Elevate Youth California funding has been more than just support, but transformative in our practices as a program,” said the Youth Coordinator from the Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project. “This funding has allowed us to create and enhance our satellite sites across our city, serving and fostering community with 60 to 100 Indigenous youth from the Mixteco, Zapotec, and many other Diasporic communities throughout the Central Coast. It has strengthened autonomous youth leadership, cultural knowledge, and accessibility to higher education resources/tools for our youth.”

“The EYC grant has allowed us to provide vital prevention services to foster youth, youth on probation, and others in our community,” said the Executive Director of The Young People’s Foundation, Inc. “We’ve built long-term relationships with youth from underserved Black and brown communities and developed peer leaders who are driving change.”

According to DHCS’ 2024 Annual Report, 37 percent of the population served by these programs are boys and men. To see the full list of EYC grant recipients and learn more about EYC, visit their website.