A special "mill" tax levy instituted last June has yielded $385,000 in funding for addiction prevention programs in Missoula County, Montana, the Missoulian reported Sept. 2.

Grants supported by the special county tax included $79,600 for Flagship, which provides after-school and community-service programs for county schools; Project Success, an addiction mentoring program for students and families; and Missoula Big Brothers Big Sisters.

"It's so good to live in Missoula because people are willing to support things like [the mill levy]," said Flagship executive director Rosie Buzzas.

The first round of grants went mostly to established programs, but future funding also will support new projects. The county established an RFP process to award grants.

The 2-mill levy that supports prevention in Missoula equated to 2/10 of one cent. It was approved by county voters last June by a 14,018 to 12,493 margin.

"We braid and weave a lot of different pots of money to keep services functioning here," said Marianne Moon, safe schools coordinator for the Missoula county school district. "If this levy hadn't passed, we were groping for money. This was one wonderful solution."

This funding summary has been corrected to note the following:

Correction, Sept. 12, 2008: As originally published, this article inadvertently listed the county and state incorrectly.