Dallas County Drug Free Communities' Jerria Martin expands program to Guam

Drug Free Communities of Dallas County Director Jerria Martin spent the first weeks of 2026 more than 7,000 miles from Selma helping young people on the island of Guam become the territory’s first official Hope Dealers. 

Martin, who arrived Jan. 3 after flying out on New Year’s Day, was invited back to Guam by TOHGE, a youth-focused organization that has spent the past two years working to bring Selma’s Hope Dealers model to the island.  

Her first visit came in 2024 through the Opioid Response Network, a national prevention initiative funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Martin has served as a national consultant with the network since 2018. 

During that trip, Martin visited six schools, met Guam’s governor and lieutenant governor, and introduced the Hope Dealers concept to educators and community leaders. The response, she said, was immediate and enthusiastic. 

“They loved the concept so much,” Martin said. “They were like, ‘We want some Hope Dealers, too.’” 

This month, that vision became reality. Okkodo High School now has a 12-member Hope Dealers group, the first official affiliate outside Alabama. Martin spent her time training the students in the Hope Dealers method, which blends youth-led creativity and prevention science to address substance misuse, violence and other community challenges. 

But Guam’s needs also led to a deeper focus on Hope Stars, the program’s track for students at higher risk of substance use. Martin met with Hope Star groups at five schools and worked closely with four young men from Sanctuary, Guam’s alternative school for youth who might otherwise face incarceration. 

“The poverty, the drugs, the violence, those root causes are similar to what we see in Selma, but even more so,” Martin said. “We actually have more Hope Stars there than Hope Dealers.” 

TOHGE will continue mentoring the students year-round, and Martin plans to return in June or July to check on their progress. 

One of the defining features of the Hope Dealers model is that it adapts to the culture of each community. In Selma, students often create hip hop based musical projects. In Guam, Martin said the youth are leaning toward reggae-influenced music and large-scale visual art. 

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“They’re talking about doing murals,” she said. “Art is everywhere there, on buildings, bridges, sidewalks. It’s part of their culture.” 

The Okkodo Hope Dealers are already planning schoolwide and communitywide activities, as well as social media campaigns expected to launch by mid-February. 

TOHGE’s board has formally adopted the Hope Dealers program into its charter, signing MOUs that make Guam an official Hope Dealer affiliate. 

Martin hopes the expansion continues not just globally but also closer to home. She has already discussed bringing the program to Perry County and surrounding areas. 

Because the program is hands-on and tailored to each community, Martin said she is not making a broad national announcement. Instead, she works with organizations that have the funding and commitment to implement the model. 

Drug Free Communities of Dallas County’s federal DFC grant ends in September, but Martin emphasized that the organization is on solid footing. The Hope Dealers initiative is now supported by a $1.25 million SAMHSA federal grant, a $75,000 state opioid response grant to expand programming into elementary schools and a $40,000 Dallas County Commission grant for the “Hope Starts Here, Drug Free Together” campaign  

The SAMHSA PFS grant guarantees five years of funding, and opioid response funds could last 10 to 15 years. 

“We’re definitely not going anywhere,” Martin said. “Selma will always be my home base. I want to spread hope to the world, but I’ll always be back.” 

Drug Free Communities of Dallas County and the Hope Dealers program can be found on Facebook and at www.dchopedealers.com. 

Martin was featured in a story by The Guam Daily Post about her visit to classes at schools in Okkodo. Read that story here.