Natrona County Prevention Coalition
November 5, 2019 Time: 1:00-2:00 p.m. Place: Oil and Gas Building @ 2211 King Blvd
Minutes from October 2019- Approved pending edit- Chris Mahoney, 2nd by Lance Neiberger
***EDIT: BBBS is looking for AMATURE rappers, not IMMATURE rappers.
New Business
Ø Bill Watch: NCPC members don’t Lobby, but we do share education and data with our legislative bodies.
o Vaping- raise the tobacco age to 19 (or maybe 21)?
The Star Tribune had an article stating Senator Scott would like to possibly raise alcohol tax. The last time alcohol tax was raised was during the prohibition era. Many times since then it has been tried and failed. Currently the state alcohol tax is only $0.02/gallon for beer, and $0.28/gallon on wine. Liquor is around the same as wine. Monies raised by hiking the tax might go to the Dept. of Health or the Dept. of Corrections. We may have the lowest state tax in the nation right now. Whitney is drafting a letter to inform legislators of who we are and our purpose. She will send the letter to NCPC members for approval- any suggestions are welcome.
Ø WASCOP’s Impact of Substance Abuse and Crime Report: Ernie Johnson presented the most recently updated report at a State Prevention conference. In this report, it was stated that substance related arrests are usually 80% males, 20% females. This is true for most substances except for meth. Current trends show Meth related arrests have 65% male offenders, and 35% female offenders. Opioids are becoming more of an issue than they were previously, but meth is still a big problem in Wyoming. Whitney will send out the report via e-mail to NCPC members.
Ø Next Meeting: We will not be able to meet at the Oil and Gas Building for December. Members were asked if they had any suggestions for where to meet. Becky and Andrea both suggested the auditorium at WMC. Whitney will follow up.
Subcommittee & Strategies Report:
Ø Family and Parenting: The 2019 Clue themed Family Game Night will be February 21st from 5:30-7pm in the Evansville Community Center. A Game Drive will take place from December 2nd - February 15th. Games can be dropped off at Mercer FRC. Lisa passed around Game Drive fliers. We do Family Game Night because research shows that families who spend at least 2 nights a week together reduce the risk of early substance use. Each family who attends Family Game Night receives a free board game to play throughout the year together. 250 people attended last year’s event.
Ø YEC: Current initiatives- Suicide Prevention Awareness Team (SPAT) delivered a presentation to 80 students through their life skills class.
o #WYAMPLIFY event- Jump Craze October 15thwas attended by 20 youth. December’s #WYAMPLIFY event will take place either December 5th or 12th and the youth have decided they want to do Ice Skating at David Street Station. The youth will skate and make s’mores over one of the fire pits at the ice rink. #WYAMPLIFY events are substance-free events and free for the youth. Youth do not have to be YEC members to attend.
Ø 21st Century Community Learning Centers: Program assessments have been completed and the data is coming in. Cohort 12 coordinators will be attending an APAS training session later this week. There are currently many openings in both The Science Zone’s Idea Lab and Vibes Tribe after-school programs. NCPC members were asked to contact Sheena with any questions. A recruitment flier was distributed.
o Science Zone: Each month, TSZ offers the community a “First Thursday Free Admission” day. TSZ will also be hosting a FREE Medieval Community day this Saturday. This month the students are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Periodic Table. There will be a Mercury in Transit observation day from 9am – 11am on Monday the 11th. Nov. 13th is National GIS Day- the youth will learn and teach at this event. Nov 15th is Game Night, where CCLC youth explore probability and character development. All kids and families are welcome at this event. If attendees do not currently have a character they have developed, the Idea Lab students have a few characters they have developed for use. December 14th will be Holidazzle Day from 10am-2pm.
o VIBES: Currently, Vibes Tribe is collaborating with UWYO to learn how to apply for college and scholarships. Vibes Tribe students have been preforming rock songs like Iron Man and Sunflower in their Vibes Tribe Rock Band. An upcoming Family Night will take place soon, and anyone interested in music is welcome to attend. A partnership with the Events Center is in the works for a Season of Giving Teen Night. For details, contact Amy at Vibes Fine and Performing Arts.
Ø Community Prevention Strategies Group: The Last meeting focused on vaping and forming a campaign oriented group with CNCHD. There is a need for consistent vaping messaging. Some discussion took place around a municipal vaping ordinance. The Tobacco Ed. Class at Mercer is incorporating vaping curriculum to accommodate the changes in trends.
Monthly Member Spotlight: Wyoming Community Foundation
Wyoming Community Foundation (WCF) provides competitive grants to communities statewide. Nonprofit agencies can apply for these grants, that are due by June 15th and December 15th each year. A local board makes the grants for Natrona and Converse County. Money comes from community members who gifted money/estate. The board sought out to understand the mental health issues in our communities so they conducted a survey about mental health gaps in these counties. They surveyed over 600 mental health providers, medical providers, numerous nonprofit organizations, law enforcement, probation/parole officers, etc. they received 124 completed surveys back. WCF wanted to share their findings with NCPC as a whole, and see how we can work to address some of the issues. Top issues found were a lack of transitional care services (such as transitioning out of prison, or patient navigators/case managers to help with outpatient treatment), sober living facilities, day programming, group homes, and halfway housing for men. The underlying issues they found relate to lack of housing, rx drug costs, treatment costs after insurance runs out, and in home services. WCF mentioned that services provided in Casper help residents of Converse County because many of the Converse County residents already come here for services. NCPC members were asked to reach out to Vickery Hall if they are interested in applying for a grant to help address any of these issues. Seton House has a Connections to Success program that falls in line with this needs assessment. The program started as Dress for Success and now includes teaching life skills, job skills, and ways to help better a client’s life through mentorship and accountability. Casper Housing Authority was mentioned as being another good candidate for a grant like this. Community Action Partnership has a project in development that will take in 10 families for 1 whole year- housing, medical care, dental, auto repairs, license plates, etc. Micki Jaramillo discussed that there are 3 sober living facilities that she knows of right now- one at 441 S Center, the Hope Home operated by the 12-24 club, and one to be operated by the Salvation Army. One barrier to these sober living communities discussed is that neighborhoods might need education that sober living housing does not cause danger/problems to their community. Many people in the community are renting individual rooms in their houses as a way to provide sober living options, and this is why this resource is hard to track/connect clients with. There was some discussion about Mercer FRC looking to host a Mental Health Conference (See Mercer FRC update below). It was discussed that we could do a better job of connecting resources and ensuring a warm handoff for clients. WCF data can also be used to advocate for funding at the legislative level. Other data that can help provide a scope of the need comes from the Point in Time count (happening January 24th) and Project Homeless Connect. Laramie County has recently received funding to hire a company to put together a website that compiles resources to address some of the issues discovered in the WCF survey. Similar resource-connecting projects have not had a whole lot of success in the past, but it would wise to stand back and observe the successes and challenges as they get this web based project up and running. Whitney plans to present about NCPC to WCF next Tuesday. Vickery’s contact info will be passed along to the group.
Introductions &Announcements:
Present: Whitney Lamb (Mercer/NCPC Chair), Sheena Hixson (Mercer FRC- CCLC/NCPC), Cori Costner-Burton (Mercer FRC- ED), Lisa Brown (Mercer FRC- F&P), Brittlyn Bulgrin (Mercer FRC- YEC/SPTF), Linsdey Hall (Mercer FRC- MHFA/SES/AM/CT), Lance Neiberger (NCSPTF), Chris Mahoney (WBI), Amanda Montez (BGCCW), Debbie Tayler (MADD), Rebekah Ladd (CPD), Chief McPheters (CPD), Becky Flemming (WMC), Andrea D’Onfrio (Safe Kids), Christi Parrish (WCCA), Nicole Wilson (PAT), Tammy Hanshaw (US Census), Toni Lattea (Seton House), Amanda Lewallen (BBBS),Amy Munsell (Vibes), Zane Rutlidge (Vibes), Susan Buettgenback (PAT), Tanya Southerland (NCSD), Rabecca Travers (Serve Wyo).
Announcements:
NCSPTF- Provided QPR to 282 9th grade & YCC youth. Free Presentations available. Contact Lance Neiberger for more info.
WBI- Full house again. Reminded everyone to take time for self-care during the holiday season, as this time of year can be rough.
Mercer FRC- Mercer has been talking about trying to put together a mental health conference to include resources in housing, substance abuse, suicide, mental health, etc. We do have an annual Meth Conference, and there was a Suicide Prevention Conference about 3 years ago. It was discussed that Lindsey with Mercer FRC provides Mental Health 1st Aid Training (MHFA), which is an 8-hour training geared towards professionals working with people who may experience crisis situations, citizens who have a severe and persistent mental illness (such as bipolar, or schizophrenia) or work with a variety of mental health issues. MHFA is a 5 step action plan to help, and you need no special training or background to attend a training.
MADD- Anti DUI campaign kicks off November 20th. Holiday Parade will be Nov. 30th and MADD is collecting candy for the float.
CPD- 56 arrests last week; 22 juveniles. Home burglaries are on the rise. Lock vehicle/home up, as most crimes committed lately are opportunistic. Lots of auto burglaries, stolen fire arms, and massive vaping presence is being seen with juveniles. Vaping is a growing issue. The amount of juveniles committing serious crimes seems to correlate with vaping increases. More juveniles are committing more serious crimes.
WMC- Becky has been teaching a modified PARTY class at KW last week. During the winter, they wind the class down due to weather and PARTY curriculum having so many outdoor activities. Traffic Circle course is also offered through Restorative Justice- looking to offer an adult class separately as well. A Walk in Her Shoes Sexual Assault Awareness event in the works for April.
Safe Kids- Hiliday DUI Campaign kickoff Nov. 11th at 11am in the Main Lobby of WMC. Safe Kids would like to train another Certified Car Seat Tech to help with car seat check events. This is an inexpensive course. Contact Andrea for more information.
WCCA- recruiting numbers are down. Looking to enroll more students 16-18 years of age.
US Census- Jobs are available! $16.55/hour, flexible part time hours. NCPC’s agencies’ clients invited to apply. Seeking Census takers who go door to door, as well as 40 jobs available in an office setting. To apply go to 2020census.gov/jobs. Veterans or those with prior experience will be prioritized. An application questionnaire will help applicants find a job to fit their needs/abilities.
Seton House- 30th anniversary celebration coming up!
PAT- 2-3 openings to fill. Handed out brochures.
BBBS- Working to find interests for teens to connect to in the community. PY program has recently partnered with VIBES TRIBE afterschool program. Haunted House went well. Seeking BIGs to pair with littles.
NCSD- New board committee is being formed for targeted efforts in community partnerships. NCSD News Now media newsletter is available. Safe 2 Tell numbers are being closely monitored.
Serve Wyo- is Launching a Service Learning Initiative. They are seeking to connect college student volunteers to nonprofits in the community. Non-profits who would like to provide mentorship in return for 20 hours of volunteer work are encouraged to fill out a non-profit application available online. Serve Wyo also expressed interest in planning a mental health conference.