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

• Substance use prevention education in schools and in the form of newsletters, press releases, articles, and print materials.

• Free nutrition education for Mainers of all ages emphasizing shopping, cooking, and eating nutritiously on a limited budget

• Nutrition and wellness-related initiatives to support a healthy community, including access to food and nutrition resources

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

• Free Responsible Beverage Server Training for businesses that serve or sell alcohol. 

• Community partnership efforts such as monthly meetings bringing together local law enforcement, community-serving organizations, and other coalitions to create a close network of support for individuals in our community

• Free Community Education on prevention topics such as 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, nutrition, grocery budget management, and more