About half of the $1 million in matching grant funding to prevent local opioid abuse has been allocated to agencies ranging from preschools to those working with retirees.
Leaders of the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress reported that information at a recent meeting with Tracy Souza, president and chief executive officer for The Heritage Fund — the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County and with Beth Morris, director of community health partnerships at Columbus Regional Hospital.
ASAP leaders including executive lead Jeff Jones have been working alongside a wide range of community partners on prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery.
The Project Prevent grant program, meant to encourage local residents to avoid drug addiction and abuse, is funded through the $1 million Mark and Wendy Elwood Substance Abuse Prevention Fund. It was created when the Elwoods agreed to donate $500,000 if the community matched that amount, which community members did.
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“One of the benefits of community education and Project Prevent is to see the stigmas associated with addictions fading,” Jones said.
BCSC allocation
Of the $457,491, distributed thus far, the largest allocations have been to the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. for $125,600, covering three grants for work over about a two-year period.
That includes programs such as Calming Corners to help younger students pause during the day to tackle emotions to Family Nights to equip parents to cope better amid family stress. But nearly all the local school efforts will begin in the fall, according to Laura Hack, BCSC’s director of elementary education.
Foundation For Youth is next in allocations with $49,300 covering nine grants, including supporting a theater program with an anti-drug abuse message and also monthly, free teen nights.
One of the school programs already underway is a class called LifeSkills. Kyle Burton, a health teacher at Northside Middle School, earlier this week led some of those classes meant to build students’ self esteem and what organizers call “positive personal development.”
The idea: Those with solid self-esteem and a healthy outlook on life will be less likely to make poor choices that can lead to recreational drug use and addiction. LifeSkills also is meant to reduce violence and other high-risk behaviors, according to its promotional material.
The high school version of the class cuts teen drug abuse in half, according to a study in the World Journal of Preventive Medicine.
ASAP organizers say a recent national study shows that for each dollar invested in the LifeSkills curriculum, a community saves $45 in future mental health, substance abuse help, and criminal justice efforts.
Hack mentioned that, ideally, administrators see all the school-related preventive programs as helping all people connected with them, teachers included.
“I don’t think there’s any human being on the planet who could not in any way ever be affected (by addiction),” Hack said.
She is aware that teachers already have plenty to handle in the classroom. But she sees Project Prevent initiatives as equipping students to be stronger people and stronger learners.
“If we don’t learn to take care of each other, it doesn’t matter what curriculum we put in front of students,” Hack said.
Youth programming
At Foundation For Youth, about 10 different programs are either ongoing or have been completed, said Executive director Chuck Kime. The programs take a varied approach to a singular message. The most recent Teen Night, including food, games and simply hanging out in a healthy atmosphere at the facility at 405 Hope Ave., drew 152 young people, including those from each middle and high school, plus students from surrounding areas such as Seymour and Franklin.
“They’ve really found something there that the community really wants and needs,” Souza said.
Thirteen-year-old Keller McNair loves the events, including the last one that featured a DJ and dancing in the gym. Others have included Mario Kart video game tournaments.
“It’s a way to bring young people together,” said McNair, who has attended every Teen Night since the events began in September with 60 youth. “You can simply hang out with friends, play basketball, play video games, listen to music, get time away from your parents and stay off the streets.”
McNair said the off-the-streets part is important, since he already has seen peers gravitate to the wrong crowd and get mixed up with drugs.
“Their lives are so structured already,” said Tim Green, Foundation For Youth’s teen program director. “Here (at Teen Night), they can just be. They have free reign. I think this is why it is different than what some people tried before with very structured events.”
Beyond wholesome, uplifting activities and outlets, there also is room for gatherings with a direct message replayed regularly, Kime said.
“We at times have not said often enough to kids ‘This is a bad idea,’” when referring to drug abuse, Kime said. “We believe that continually hearing the message that opioids are a bad choice is one that eventually sinks in if kids hear it enough times.”
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The latest Project Prevent grants totaling $283,727 have been awarded. Additional allocations from fiscal agent The Heritage Fund — The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County have been made since spring of last year. The most recent are:
- African American Pastor’s Alliance, $20,000
- Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation (three grants), $125,600
- Centerstone, $500
- Children’s Bureau, $2,000
- Clarity, $6,000
- Columbus Parks and Recreation, $2,000
- Columbus Regional Health Foundation, $3,790
- Community Church of Columbus (five grants), $8,000
- Dayspring Church of the Apostolic, $1,129
- Family Service, (two grants) $7,145
- First Presbyterian Preschool, $5,000
- Foundation for Youth, (nine grants) $49,300
- Hamilton Community Center and Ice Arena, $600
- Healthy Communities, (three grants) $2,000
- IUPUC, $3,000
- Malachi’s Closet, $8,000
- Mill Race Center, $11,000
- Purdue Extension, $2,850
- St. Peter’s Lutheran, $8,082
- Souls Harbor Church, $3,000
- Su Casa Columbus, $3,000
- Turning Point Domestic Violence Services, (two grants) $11,731
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Project Prevent is a grant program of the Heritage Fund — The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County and the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress, made possible by the Mark and Wendy Elwood Substance Abuse Fund.
Project prevent grant applications are due by the first business day of each month through April. For application guidelines, informational materials, submission forms and more visit heritagefundbc.org.
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