Penobscot Bay Community Health Partnerships (formerly Knox County Community Health Coalition) was founded in 2000, later merging with Penobscot Bay YMCA in mutual efforts toward community outreach in 2004. Penobscot Bay Community Health Partnerships (PBCHP) serves Knox and Waldo counties to address youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility, with a primary focus on substance misuse and tobacco-use prevention, recovery support, and free nutrition education opportunities & initiatives for SNAP-eligible residents.

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Today PBCHP's large focus areas are tobacco use prevention (including vaping), decreasing involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke, substance use prevention, harm reduction, decreasing stigma around substance use disorder, and community & individual nutrition security.

 

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These focus areas include community efforts such as:

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• Youth substance use prevention curricula such as Prime for Life, Catch My Breath, and other evidence-based programs that promote informed decision-making, emotional well-being, and healthy lifestyle choices.

• Tobacco policy creation for schools, businesses, and other organizations throughout the community.

• Prevention education on safe medication storage and disposal, safe cannabis storage, impaired driving laws, social hosting laws, safe alcohol sales and service, individual and community impacts of vaping, naloxone use and availability, food and kitchen safety, and more.

• Nutrition education for Mainers of all ages, emphasizing shopping, cooking, and eating nutritiously even with limited access to resources.

• Community nutrition initiatives to support a healthy community through improved access to food, nutrition resources, essential skills, and information.

• Harm reduction resources, including Narcan, Deterra bags, medication lock boxes, cannabis locking bags, and more.

• Responsible Beverage Server (RBS) training for businesses that sell or serve alcohol, promoting responsible alcohol service and legal compliance.

• Community partnership building, including monthly meetings that bring together local law enforcement, community-serving organizations, and other coalitions to create a strong, supportive network for individuals in our community.