Natrona County Prevention Coalition
March 5th, 2019 Time: 1:00-2:00 p.m. Place: Oil and Gas Building @ 2211 King Blvd
Approval of Minutes from February 2019: Jean Davies motioned to approve, Hailey Rodgers 2nd. None opposed.
New Business
Welcome Everyone!
v Presentation: 21st Century Community Learning Centers by Alissa Thyfault and Sheena Hixson
Ø 2019 Legislative session wrap up *** Please note, as a coalition, we do not advocate for or against any bills, we just educate.
Bills that impact prevention efforts that have passed:
o SF0007-Alternate Penalties & Pretrial Release for Alcohol Crimes (increases options for probation and parole)
o SF0051-Tobacco Tax Equivalence (across all counties and reservations)
o SF0046-Opioid Prescription Limits (prescription limits to 7-day supply for the opioid naïve, dosing amount was not limited)
o HB0244– Medicaid- work requirements and expansion- died the last day of session
o HB0218 – Tobacco Tax (increase)- postponed indefinitely
o HB0176 – Tobacco prevention funding- died in committee
o HB0282 – Tobacco products (Vaping products to be included in taxation)- died in committee
o SF0052 – Special permit for Alcohol beverages (exception)- died in committee
Ø NCPC Strategic Planning- Set for presentation to NCPC on May 7th
NCPC members are invited to come brainstorm and help lay the groundwork for larger campaigns/environmental impacts of our strategic plan in the next CPSG meeting, March 27th at 2pm at Mercer Family Resource Center. The next CPSG meeting will be a planning session, and all plans will be presented to the larger NCPC group for approval/discussion.
Subcommittee & Strategies Report:
Ø Family and Parenting:
o Family Game Night: this year, family game night served 220 individuals and 75 family units. The Family & Parenting subcommittee would like to thank Cent$able Nutrition for serving a delicious meal during this event, Parents as Teachers for setting up a 0-3 play area, and our many sponsors who made this event possible. A sneak peek into next year’s theme: Life Sized Clue®.
o Community Baby Shower: Will take place April 13, 2019 at the Boys & Girls Club. Booth sign up links have been sent out via e-mail. Due to having a few new faces this meeting, Lisa explained what the Community Baby Shower is: This is an event that combines 25+ agency such as True Care, Wyoming Medical Centers, Local dentists, and Safe Kids that cover topics around healthy and safe pregnancies, births, and early childhood. CWCC and Parents as Teachers are huge sponsors in this event. Agency booth topics include education about the risks of maternal tobacco use and alcohol use, care seat safety, parental mental health, dental health, child development, and much more. Participants who attend the Community Baby Shower get connected with multiple resources in the community, along with a bag full of baby essentials. Participants receive points for attending the event, which they can use as payment for items such as diapers, wipes, and developmental toys in our “store.” Over 450 people attended last year, and 220 individual family units were provided with bags of baby essentials. Numbers tend to increase by about 100 participants each year, so this year may be the last year that the Boys and Girls Club would be able to house the event. Lisa invited anyone from NCPC to join in on the next Family and Parenting meeting, Thursday March 21st at Parents as Teachers (347 N Walsh) to stuff bags with baby essentials and prep store items.
o Family Day: 2019 Family Day will take place July 9th Stay tuned for details.
Ø YEC: The Youth Empowerment Council will be providing a Suicide Prevention Awareness Presentation on March 18th and 19th at Dean Morgan. #WYAMPLIFY’s next prosocial event will be Youth Top Chef. This event will be held at the CentSable Nutrition office, where the youth will have 3 kitchens to compete in. There will be 3 teams of 5 youth competing in a savory competition and a sweet competition, and will be learning about substance prevention and how cooking leads to healthy choices. Brittlynn passed around a flier.
Ø 21st Century Community Learning Centers: 21CCLC staff has been working on outcome reporting, teacher surveys, and the continuation application for next year. Cohort 12 centers will e attending intervention classes in the near future. Both centers have signed up to do Love and Logic for their family intervention course, and Insight into Substance Use Prevention for the youth intervention class. Spring assessments are coming up. Anyone in NCPC is welcome to join in on the observation piece of the Spring APAS, which will be conducted mid-April. If you are interested in assisting with observations, contact Sheena at shixson@mercercasper.com to get linked up with a short APAS 101 training.
o Boy & Girls Club: Not present, no update
o Science Zone: The Science Zone is looking into hiring summer programing help. Their annual fundraiser, An Elemental Evening, will take place this Saturday, March 9th (fliers handed out). The Science Zone is proud to announce that an amendment was approved for their Idea Lab participants to gain payment in the form of a stipend for all of the hard work they do while learning. The Science Zone is incorporating work-force skills such as interviewing and budgeting into the stipend component of their program.
o YMCA: not present, no update
o VIBES: Vibes conducted a music and wellness day for their participants. They brought in a physical therapist who taught about body posture, yoga and music. Vibes is now offering extended hours in the evening on Thursdays and Fridays to accommodate youth needs. Teen open mike night will be April 12th at Vibes. Vibes participants are gearing up for performances for families and friends, and planning summer programing.
Ø Community Prevention Strategies Group: Prevention week is coming up in May. Natrona County will try to celebrate in correlation with Safe Kids day and the Art Walk, and present a new topic every day. YEC to focus on alcohol use during the Art Walk. CPSG looking to highlight the work of NCPC to increase public awareness of our efforts. The calendar of family events is a useful resource being used by many organizations, such as the united Way and the Child Development Center. The next CPSG meeting will review community prioritization in the following topics: community norms, social availability, and individual factors of alcohol and drug use among youth and adults. CPSG will present the campaign ideas that are brainstormed to the larger NCPC group for approval.
Introductions &Announcements:
Present: Whitney Lamb (Mercer/NCPC Chair), Brittlynn Bulgrin (Mercer FRC/NCSPTF), Gerry Minick (2020 Census), Erin Ford (CWCC), Corrielynn Whitman (DOC-Student Court), Lisa Brown (Mercer FRC), Wendy Luck (Serve Wyoming), Bill Howell (CWCC), Shelly Dvoss (The Science Zone), Amy Munsell (Vibes), Ivonne Chavez (Seton House), John Becker (NCSO), Susan Buettgenback (PAT), Sheena Hixson (Mercer FRC), Alissa Thyfault (Mercer FRC), Patric Wick (YCC), Pam Mann (YCC), Bernice Hazucha, Jean Davies (WMP), Christi Perrish (WCCA), Hailey Rodgers (CNCHD), Chief Keith Mcpheeters (CPD)
Announcements:
NCSPTF: Strategic planning will be discussed next Tuesday from 11-12pm. Lunch will be provided. NCPC members welcome to join.
Mercer FRC- The coalition was asked to submit their family-friendly events to Sheena at shixson@mercercasper.com or on our website at ncpreventioncoalition.net. New Anger Management series starts tonight
2020 Census: raising community awareness. Recruiting for part time positions for the complete count committee. Over 700 positions will be hired with pay of $14.50-22.00/hour (some benefited). Anyone looking for part time work is asked to contact Gerry Minick at Geraldine.minick@2020census.gov. They will be doing job fairs and will have a booth at the community baby shower event. Address verification positions and enumerator positions available now through August. Must be 18 or older and be a citizen or have a green card.
CWCC: Has been partnering with other agencies to provide parenting classes to mothers in residential treatment and in the community. Therapeutic Foster Care has been helping with day treatment for 2-5 year old children. The Adolescent treatment wing has been busy with around 85% occupancy in residential. CWCC has also been partnering with schools and Cent$able Nutrition to integrate more services to clients. The Wellness Conference will be April 11th-12th at Casper College. They will have discussions on suicide prevention across multiple populations: geriatrics, youth & family, and employees in crisis.
DOC/Student Court- Juuling tickets are increasing. Officers are seeing more THC vapes vs nicotine vapes. Hard to catch because they are low odor and don’t produce a large cloud like other vape devices do.
Mercer FRC: Updated class schedule passed around. Strengthening Families starts next week. The new Nurtured Heart Approach class will pilot on Friday March 15th. This new class is beneficial for all, but highly effective with high intensity youth with ADHD, Reactive-Attachment Disorder, and other behavioral challenges. The tools taught can benefit parents as well as professionals who work with youth.
Serve Wyo: Welcome Wendy Luck, the newest member of Serve Wyoming. She will help connect nonprofits with volunteers.
The Science Zone: Their big fundraiser, An Elemental Evening will take place this Saturday at the Hanger. Area 307 Book Club will meet at the library to review Burning Chrome on March 13th, Maker Day will be March 16th, Game Night will be March 18th, and Earth and Space day will be April 13th. The Science Zone will also be featured on K2 News for Science Sundays and every other Thursday morning.
Seton House: Celebrating their 30th anniversary soon! Stay tuned for details.
NCSO: Safe Kids Day will be May 4th 10am-noon at Boys & Girls Club of Central Wyoming. Crisis Intervention Team training happening next week.
PAT- Roll and Read will take place September 14th 10am-12pm at the Tate Pump house. The Early Childhood Alliance is also hosting a community event that will include dinner April 16th, 4-7:30pm. Anyone interested in manning a booth, please contact Susan B to get connected with Mary Stoll.
YCC- Started keeping electronic records March 1. Crisis wing has been full or overflowing the past few weeks.
Wy Meth Proj.: Welcome Bernice Hazucha! The 16th annual Meth Conference will be April 10&11th. Trauma informed speakers will be present including someone from the Rocky Mtn. High Intensity Drug Trafficking department.
WCCA: Graduate training now available through Wyoming Contractors for Heavy Equipment certification and Phlebotomy. Graduates can get a $6-8,000 training for free! WCCA is also an accredited special school who is able to offer credit recovery and maintenance so participants can transition back to their high school and schools don’t have to count them as a drop out.
CNCHD; Drug takeback will happen in April. The Sherriff’s Cadets will be doing a drug takeback in May. CNCHD is still searching for a director.
CPD: “Why Kids Kill” training conducted by Phil Chalmers to take place in May (for police officers, professionals and teachers), and again in August (for the public). There will be no charge for police department officials. Evidence shows that violent crimes can be tied to drug use or mental health disorders. For the past 18 months, offices are responding to about 1.5 calls per day (482 times in one year) that are caused by mental illness, and officers transport those individuals to services. Most times these are high stress calls with a person actively engaged in suicide ideation. “How would our city react if we were having 482 home invasions or 482 homicides in a year?” CPD has hired a new crime analyst to start crime mapping hot spots and making them more accessible to the public. It was suggested that it may be beneficial to publish these stats that CPD intervened 482 times on what could have been a worse outcome of events, but we do not want to portray Casper as a city with rampant mental illness, because we are not. Jean suggested stating that these 482 suicides were prevented last year. CPD is also conducting a national search for a new public information officer to take John Hatcher’s position over. Chief McPheeters announced that they have a very strong pool of candidates and the public will see a significant increase of involvement and information after April 1st.
Subcommittee Meeting Times:
Family & Parenting Committee Next Mtg: Thursday February 28th at 10am at Mercer FRC
Community Prevention Strategies Group Next Mtg: Wednesday, February 27th at 2pm at Mercer FRC
Next NCPC Meeting
March 5th, 2019 – 1PM-2PM