The Healthy Communities Initiative (HCI) held its Kick-Off meeting for Madison County on November 18th from 10:00 A.M. until 11:15 A.M.in the conference room at the Midtown Health Center, 302 Phillip Avenue, in Norfolk. Attendees responding to the call to help represented a varied array of 22 stakeholders from Madison County ranging from mental health providers to educational, law enforcement, governmental, health, wellness, juvenile services, and family support groups and entities. The meeting moderator was Kathy Becker of HCI; the Substance Abuse Prevention Coordinator for HCI.
Becker made a PowerPoint presentation about HCI covering the history, mission, focus areas, governing body, prevention partners and strategies, data collection, outreach efforts, funding, statistics on alcohol use, and results of the Nebraska Risk and Protective Factor Student Survey (the “NRPFSS”) for Madison County. Also discussed was HCI’s funding which includes the $125,000 Drug Free Communities (DFC) grant for 2014-15. She explained that this is the fourth year HCI has received the DFC grant for a total to date of $500,000. “HCI also received,” Becker explained,” more than a $125,000 non-governmental match of in-kind services during each of the prior years under the DFC Grant.” Additional HCI funding includes a grant from Region 4 Behavorial Health System totaling $32,769.
“We welcome everyone here, other interested people, and involved groups and businesses to give substantive input toward reducing a growing problem in this area with prescription medicine abuses, binge drinking, increased marijuana use, deceptive marketing, and addressing youth cultural challenges,” Becker urged. It was the consensus of the group that the problem would take the kind of coalition effort found in the special expertise and technical help of all attendees to work out an effective, coordinated strategy, and then make real gains in reducing substance abuse by youthful offenders.
Kathy Becker suggested that the next meeting of the coalition could focus on identifying and describing specific areas of critical interest or challenges by the whole group, and then to staff those areas with smaller and more manageable groups of motivated coalition members. Those smaller groups would work independently in a coordinated way toward reaching measurable goals yet to be determined.
The next meeting of the HCI Coalition will be January 27, 2015, starting at 10:00 A.M., again in the conference room at the Midtown Health Center, 302 Phillip Avenue in Norfolk.
About the Healthy Communities Initiative (“HCI”) and for Additional Information:
HCI is a substance abuse prevention coalition that was formed in 2003 by a small group of interested stakeholders. By 2014 it has grown from a small, informal group to a fully-functioning coalition with a project coordinator, director, and board of directors. The board is made up of people from 12 areas: youth, parents, business, media, schools, police, religious or fraternal organizations, civic or volunteer groups, minorities, health care experts, state, local, or tribal government agencies, and other groups involved in reducing substance abuse. HCI serves the counties of Burt, Cuming, Stanton, and Madison which consists of 2,020 square miles and a population of about 57,000 people. Its focus is on substance abuse prevention among young people and growing community partnerships to help bring its prevention message to all people in its service area. If you are interested in learning more about HCI, or going to a meeting, visit its Web site at www.hcicoalition.org or call (402) 529-2233.