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.

• 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 & availability, food & kitchen safety, and more.

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

• Community nutrition initiatives to support a healthy community, including 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 training for businesses that serve or sell alcohol to inform responsible alcohol serving practices.

• Community partnership, including 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.