The Newton County Hometown Health Initiative (HHI) created a subcommittee called Partnership in Prevention (PIP) which proposed submitting an application for a federal CDC Drug Free Community (DFC) grant. That application was submitted last April and the announcement of grants awarded is expected to come in August. To inform the public what the grant would mean to Newton County, a town hall meeting was held Tuesday afternoon, June 25, at the Jasper School Cafeteria.
About 20 people signed the attendance sheet at the meeting that began at 5:30 p.m. and concluded a little over an hour later.
Jeff Dezort, chair of HHI and PIP, explained the the Initiative was established in the county in 2003 as a way for community members to identify problems in the community and to take action to help resolve those problems. Over the past 20 years results of the organization have been many, but most notably: Creation of the Jasper Community Garden, the Jasper Farmer’s Market, recruiting a mobile mammography unit from UAMS to visit the county heath office three times a year and the the Jasper School District's school based health center provided by the Boston Mountain Community Health Clinic.
HHI initially set out to apply for the Drug Free Communities (DFC) grant prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but was halted for two years. After reforming the coalition, the process was started over.
In 2023 HHI applied for and received a COPE grant for $25,000 that was used for training of HHI members about how to apply and what would be needed for the DFC grant.
Last April the application was submitted. If approved, the DFC grant will provide $125,000 a year for 5 years.
A large portion of the grant will be used to pay the salary of a program coordinator. The Jasper School District has agreed to be the fiduciary for the grant. The district would hire the coordinator with input from the 12 core community members of PIP.
The program's focus will be on youth education and prevention. PIP will collect data and document activities for reports once a year to the grant provider. The mission of PIP is to create a program that will educate and mentor students starting in 3rd grade and will perpetually reinforce the prevention and reduction in youth substance misuse in Newton County by serving ages 9 – 18. The coordinator will involve law enforcement and community businesses to reinforce the mission and vision of the organization.
Kyle Evatt MPA, CPS – Grant/Project Coordinator, Regional Prevention Provider for
North Arkansas Partnership for Health Education (NAPHE), assisted in preparing data included in the application. During the meeting he reviewed the Arkansas Prevention Needs Assessment (APNA) survey data collected through schools.
The DFC grant application focuses on opioids, a requirement of the COPE funding, and alcohol as identified on the student surveys.
During the grant years, additional items can be added. Next year vaping and marijuana are projected to be added. Eventually fentanyl could be added.
Evatt emphasized the importance of student participation taking the survey annually in the process.
Comments from the audience suggested students and parents are concerned that the survey is not anonymous.
Reassurance must be given and proved for comfort in taking the survey truthfully and accurately, Evatt said. The coordinator will be tasked with the job of working with the schools to develop strategies for accurate testing and data retrieval. Youth focused peer to peer assurance is important.
