- Department of Public Health
Media Contact for Department of Public Health awards $3.1 million to prevent problem gambling among youth, support workforce
Ann Scales, Director of Media Relations
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) today announced $3.1 million in grants to community-based organizations to support two initiatives aimed at addressing the impacts of problem gambling on state residents.
DPH’s Office of Problem Gambling Services (OPGS) will fund a $2.1 million Youth Leaders in Problem Gambling Prevention initiative and provide $1 million in funding for Project Build Up 2.0. The Youth Leaders project is a peer-to-peer program designed to actively engage young people (ages 12-21) in problem gambling prevention; Project Build Up 2.0 provides workforce development opportunities to recruit and retain employees for outpatient substance use and gambling treatment programs.
“Our focus remains on supporting and promoting prevention, referral, and treatment options to help those with a gambling problem, which is particularly important as access to gambling expands,” said Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein, MD, PhD. “These two initiatives will augment our efforts to prevent problem gambling among youth and help fortify our workforce capacity in the outpatient substance use and gambling treatment space.”
The Youth Leaders in Gambling Prevention project will build programs that empower young people to lead and develop problem gambling prevention, advocacy, and community strategies to raise awareness of problem gambling and related health issues throughout the state. The project will be led by three organizations: Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center in Boston, Public Health Institute of Western MA, and The Latino Education Institute at Worcester State University. Each organization will receive $700,000 annually to implement the program and award $5,000 scholarships for higher education for youth participants who complete the project.
As part of its treatment support services, OPGS has awarded a new round of grant funding for Project Build Up 2.0, an existing workforce development program for outpatient substance use and gambling treatment agencies – two areas with a high level of comorbidity. Up to 20 organizations will receive $25,000 annually for two years to support workforce development, staff recruitment and retention, and marketing strategies to promote problem gambling treatment. Health Resources in Action, Inc. (HRiA) has been selected to design and implement the grant selection process with community input and establish an advisory committee to evaluate and select grantees. Approximately $1 million will be awarded annually through June 30, 2029, for a total of $5 million.
Problem gambling can significantly impact an individual and their family, relationships, social interactions, and employment. Just as with substance use problems, problem gambling has been associated with worse academic performance, anxiety, and overall poorer quality of life, which in turn can interfere with career goals and social relationships. The 2021 MA Youth Health Survey found that 42.4 percent of high school and 43.47 percent of middle school students had gambled in the previous year.
“Reaching young people before they start down a path to gambling is critically important,” said Office of Problem Gambling Services Director Victor Ortiz. “Supporting workforce development for problem gambling treatment providers will build the capacity of our outpatient treatment programs to address problem gambling and co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders.”
“These two initiatives help further our community engagement, allowing us to build on this important work, reach more people, and create additional partnerships that can truly change lives,” said Hafsatou Diop, DPH’s Assistant Commissioner for Health Equity. “We are ready to get to work.”
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