Partnership of African American Churches

21st century community learning centers provide academic enrichment opportunities during out of school time hours for children, particularly students who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools. Peer based recovery and substance abuse prevention initiative - the Partnership of African American Churches (paac) is a leader in training peer support providers in the area of substance misuse. In addition paac operates a prevention, recovery and wellness center on the westside of charleston, west Virginia. Paac employs full time recovery coaches to provide peer support to individuals with substance misuse disorder, homeless, veterans and those suffering from mental health challenges. Paac also employs a community engagement specialist to work with those assigned to drug court under the justice reinvestment initiative.the paac established community coalitions led by paac community health workers, and covid vaccine immunization teams that traveled throughout the state providing immunization and testing services in community locations and at community events. The goal was to increase the number of people receiving immunizations and decrease the number of individuals contracting covid. This was accomplished by supporting small rural and underserved communities to overcome vaccine accessibility challenges. The paac was also key to communication efforts, providing trusted, accurate and current information to community members.