Faces & Voices of Recovery wrote
on May 30, 2008 at 9:03 AM
Recovery Voices Count is a national project working to build the recovery community (people in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs, families,friends and allies)into a strong unified constituency with one voice for the 2008 Elections and beyond. Growing numbers of recovery community organizations and recovery advocates across the country are getting involved in nonpartisan voting activities so that their voices can be heard in the local, state and national arenas. They are conducting voter registration and Get-Out-the-Vote activities, sponsoring candidate forums and getting candidates for political office on record about critical policies that will make recovery a reality for even more Americans. Recovery Voices Count is one part of Faces and Voices of Recovery's (www.facesandvoicesofrecovery.org) national movement to make it possible for even more of our friends, neighbors and family members to experience long-term recovery from addiction by building recognition of the recovery community as a constituency of consequence. As recovery community organizations and recovery advocates register voters, educate candidates for public office about key issues and turn out voters in growing numbers, we will have an even greater impact on the lives of people who still need help with their addiction, people in long-term recovery, their family members and communities. With less than half of eligible Americans voting, Recovery Voices Count is a great way to help people take the first step in civic participation and build your recovery community organization. Every individual eligible to vote needs to be encouraged to register to vote and, if already registered, encouraged to vote. One policy issue that is very important to the recovery community is restoring the right of people with criminal convictions to vote. More than five million Americans are barred from the polls because of these restrictions. Many of these disenfranchised people have experience with addiction and face lifetime bans on participating in our civic life as voters. Recovery community organizations around the country are working in coalition with allied organizations to right this wrong. Many people in recovery have also experienced insurance descrimination from insurance companies. We need to work towards equality as someone's treatment should be covered as equally as if someone was dealing with a physical illness. Join us in reaching out and organizing the recovery community to participate in our electoral process. Join us in making Recovery Voices Count!
There are many things you can do to take action!
A Recovery Voices Count guide and many other tools can be found at
http://facesandvoicesofrecovery.org/about/campaigns/recovery_voices_count_tools.php
You can use the guide to do many things to help the project.
There are three important parts to the project that anyone can get involved in
1. Voter Registration
2. Voter and Candidate Education
3. Voter Participation by having your voice heard by voting on behalf of the recovery community!
Voter Registration
The guide can get you started in organizing a Voter Registration drive. Here you can learn who is eligible to vote, how to recruit volunteers for your project, and research voter registration deadlines. If you have not registered to vote yourself please register at http://facesandvoicesofrecovery.org/about/campaigns/recovery_voices_count.phprvc
Click on the banner that says register to vote!
Voter and Candidate Participation
Their are many ways you can educate candidates running for public office on the local, state, and national levels.
Learn and practice 5 questions to ask candidates, and work to get a candidate to sign this pledge here...
http://facesandvoicesofrecovery.org/pdf/Call_to_Action.pdf
It is important that we hold candidates for office accountable and get them on the record before they are elected. This makes our job as advocates easier when we are working to get legislation passed or working against a bill that does not help the recovery community.
Voter Participation
It is important to call our friends family and allies in recovery and make sure they are turning out to vote in numbers! We can organize Get Out the Vote drives to the recovery community.
A sample script can be found here...you can use this to organize your own drive!
http://facesandvoicesofrecovery.org/about/campaigns/recovery_voices_count_tools.php
If you have any questions regarding this campaign or need some guidance for the project please contact the lead Recovery Voices Count Field Organizer Aaron Kucharski at
aaronkucharski@yahoo.com
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
CSAT RCSP Cuts
Colleagues,
As you all know, the RCSP program is in grave danger.
Thanks to everyone who has been educating the public and policymakers about how important the program is and what a difference it has made in the lives of so many of our friends and neighbors. We have our work cut out for us over the next few months, but we have an incredible story to tell and a national network of people who know how critical the RCSP program is to developing strong communities of recovery.
I wanted to spend a few minutes bringing everyone up to date on where we are:
Meeting with Dr. Clark on February 1st
Thanks so much to Bev Haberle (PRO-ACT); Kim Turner-Haugabook (CCAR); Bill Layfield (Alabama Voices for Recovery) and Tom Coderre (Faces & Voices and Rhode Island resident) for taking time from their busy schedules to attend a meeting with CSAT Director Westley Clark last Friday. At the meeting, they laid out what the RCSP program has meant to people in CT and PA and the need and desire for future grantmaking to duplicate and build on those successes in AL, RI and across the country.
At the meeting, we reiterated the need for a new round of grantmaking in 2008 and an expanded RCSP program in 2009.
There are two critical funding issues for the RCSP program: 2008 and 2009 funding. The third issue is providing technical assistance to support the growing national network of recovery community organizations.
2008 funding
At the meeting with Dr. Clark, we talked about the last time that there was a threat to the RCSP program – in 2006 when we learned that there wasn’t going to be a new round of funding. At that time, advocates came together and called on SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie to restore the cut and the agency went ahead and did it.
This time, it’s a different story.
When advocates and our allies on Capitol Hill called on SAMHSA to restore the cuts, the agency responded with a new strategy and a different message. Instead of restoring the cut to new funding, the agency has been saying that they are continuing to fund the program – at $5.2 million in 2008. Those are the funds that support current grantees in 2008 (RCSP grants are for four years, so organizations that received funding in prior years will continue to be funded this year; there won’t be any new grant awards however.)
So, we need to make sure that we and our allies understand that the agency has cut all new funding (about $2.5 million a year) as well as funding for technical support for grantees.
We are developing additional advocacy strategies to continue to pressure the agency to find the $2.5 million to fund a new round of grantees, working with our allies on Capitol Hill.
2009 Funding
Today, President Bush released his budget for 2009. In it, he called for the complete elimination of the RCSP program.
The budget document that accompanies the budget includes a note that this recommendation is being made “…because services provided, such as manicures and other non-traditional therapies, are not based on evidence-based practices for recovery and grantees have not consistently met all performance measures.”
This means that there would be no continuation of existing grants.
The President’s budget proposed funding for the Access to Recovery/Voucher Initiative Program at $99.7 million, representing approximately level funding compared to FY 2008. Many of the services that are provided under ATR are similar to those provided by RCSP grantees.
The President’s budget proposal is just that – a proposal. Before Congress enacts a budget, there will be Congressional hearings and other deliberations where we will have an opportunity to weigh in in support of an expanded RCSP program.
What you can do today
One thing that we’ve learned over the past few weeks is that we all have a very important job ahead of us. We need to educate the public and policymakers about the work that recovery community organizations are doing in their communities to support individuals seeking or newly in recovery and to document the tremendous contributions that individuals are making as volunteers to those efforts. Here are some suggested immediate actions that you can take:
If you are now or were an RCSP grantee:
1). Invite your US Senators and Representative and their staff to your program and educate them about the work that you are doing in your community.
2). Count up the number of volunteer hours that are being given by people in your community to your program and send that information to me immediately. We will be putting together a national snap-shot of the RCSP program and believe that if we can tally all of the volunteer hours that are being created because of the program, that will be helpful in building our case.
3). Send any press clippings or articles that your project has generated in the local media to me so that we can put a national face on the successful RCSP story.
We are also collecting information on organizations that have been thinking about applying for RCSP grants or have applied and have not been awarded grants to build the case that there is great demand for an expansion of that program. We will be gathering that information in an organized fashion over the next few weeks.
Future strategy
We still need to find out more information before we can finalize a strategy for reversing this decision. That strategy will include Action Alerts; targeted call-ins; incorporating the RCSP program into Faces & Voices’ Recovery Voices Count campaign; providing testimony and getting questions asked at Congressional hearings; and generating media coverage of RCSP grantees’ successes.
We will be keeping in touch, but wanted you to learn about all of these developments. Please alert others in your network to steps that you will be taking and the information in the email, but don’t forward this email. The people on this email include Faces & Voices board of directors; RCSP grantees and other friends of the RCSP program.
With our combined efforts, we have a chance to come out of this fight with an even stronger RCSP program, but it’s going to take all of our work to make that happen.
As you all know, the RCSP program is in grave danger.
Thanks to everyone who has been educating the public and policymakers about how important the program is and what a difference it has made in the lives of so many of our friends and neighbors. We have our work cut out for us over the next few months, but we have an incredible story to tell and a national network of people who know how critical the RCSP program is to developing strong communities of recovery.
I wanted to spend a few minutes bringing everyone up to date on where we are:
Meeting with Dr. Clark on February 1st
Thanks so much to Bev Haberle (PRO-ACT); Kim Turner-Haugabook (CCAR); Bill Layfield (Alabama Voices for Recovery) and Tom Coderre (Faces & Voices and Rhode Island resident) for taking time from their busy schedules to attend a meeting with CSAT Director Westley Clark last Friday. At the meeting, they laid out what the RCSP program has meant to people in CT and PA and the need and desire for future grantmaking to duplicate and build on those successes in AL, RI and across the country.
At the meeting, we reiterated the need for a new round of grantmaking in 2008 and an expanded RCSP program in 2009.
There are two critical funding issues for the RCSP program: 2008 and 2009 funding. The third issue is providing technical assistance to support the growing national network of recovery community organizations.
2008 funding
At the meeting with Dr. Clark, we talked about the last time that there was a threat to the RCSP program – in 2006 when we learned that there wasn’t going to be a new round of funding. At that time, advocates came together and called on SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie to restore the cut and the agency went ahead and did it.
This time, it’s a different story.
When advocates and our allies on Capitol Hill called on SAMHSA to restore the cuts, the agency responded with a new strategy and a different message. Instead of restoring the cut to new funding, the agency has been saying that they are continuing to fund the program – at $5.2 million in 2008. Those are the funds that support current grantees in 2008 (RCSP grants are for four years, so organizations that received funding in prior years will continue to be funded this year; there won’t be any new grant awards however.)
So, we need to make sure that we and our allies understand that the agency has cut all new funding (about $2.5 million a year) as well as funding for technical support for grantees.
We are developing additional advocacy strategies to continue to pressure the agency to find the $2.5 million to fund a new round of grantees, working with our allies on Capitol Hill.
2009 Funding
Today, President Bush released his budget for 2009. In it, he called for the complete elimination of the RCSP program.
The budget document that accompanies the budget includes a note that this recommendation is being made “…because services provided, such as manicures and other non-traditional therapies, are not based on evidence-based practices for recovery and grantees have not consistently met all performance measures.”
This means that there would be no continuation of existing grants.
The President’s budget proposed funding for the Access to Recovery/Voucher Initiative Program at $99.7 million, representing approximately level funding compared to FY 2008. Many of the services that are provided under ATR are similar to those provided by RCSP grantees.
The President’s budget proposal is just that – a proposal. Before Congress enacts a budget, there will be Congressional hearings and other deliberations where we will have an opportunity to weigh in in support of an expanded RCSP program.
What you can do today
One thing that we’ve learned over the past few weeks is that we all have a very important job ahead of us. We need to educate the public and policymakers about the work that recovery community organizations are doing in their communities to support individuals seeking or newly in recovery and to document the tremendous contributions that individuals are making as volunteers to those efforts. Here are some suggested immediate actions that you can take:
If you are now or were an RCSP grantee:
1). Invite your US Senators and Representative and their staff to your program and educate them about the work that you are doing in your community.
2). Count up the number of volunteer hours that are being given by people in your community to your program and send that information to me immediately. We will be putting together a national snap-shot of the RCSP program and believe that if we can tally all of the volunteer hours that are being created because of the program, that will be helpful in building our case.
3). Send any press clippings or articles that your project has generated in the local media to me so that we can put a national face on the successful RCSP story.
We are also collecting information on organizations that have been thinking about applying for RCSP grants or have applied and have not been awarded grants to build the case that there is great demand for an expansion of that program. We will be gathering that information in an organized fashion over the next few weeks.
Future strategy
We still need to find out more information before we can finalize a strategy for reversing this decision. That strategy will include Action Alerts; targeted call-ins; incorporating the RCSP program into Faces & Voices’ Recovery Voices Count campaign; providing testimony and getting questions asked at Congressional hearings; and generating media coverage of RCSP grantees’ successes.
We will be keeping in touch, but wanted you to learn about all of these developments. Please alert others in your network to steps that you will be taking and the information in the email, but don’t forward this email. The people on this email include Faces & Voices board of directors; RCSP grantees and other friends of the RCSP program.
With our combined efforts, we have a chance to come out of this fight with an even stronger RCSP program, but it’s going to take all of our work to make that happen.
Friday, January 4, 2008
National Teleconference
Register today for Faces & Voices of Recovery's January 30 teleconference
"Recovery Voices Count"
Join us on Wednesday, January 30 at 3:00 pm Eastern for the first in our four-part 2008 Recovery Advocacy teleconferences. These one-hour interactive teleconferences will give you expert information and a chance to ask questions of our experts.
Growing numbers of recovery community organizations and recovery advocates across the country are getting involved in nonpartisan civic engagement activities so that their voices can be heard in the local, state and national arenas. They are conducting voter registration and Get-Out-the-Vote activities, sponsoring candidate forums and getting candidates for political office on record about critical policies that will make recovery a reality for even more Americans. During this teleconference, you will learn from experts in the field about how to get involved in this exciting campaign.
Faces & Voices of Recovery's National Field Director Tom Coderre will give an overview of Recovery Voices Count and we will hear from recovery advocates and allies about how to:
Register voters at your events
Educate voters and candidates about public policies that support recovery
Get-out-the-vote
Registration: To register, click here today. Please note, registration for this teleconference will close at 5:00 p.m. EST on January 28, 2007.
When you register, you will receive the telephone number for the teleconference. We will email you a link to download the PowerPoint presentation closer to January 30th. You will also be able to download the PowerPoint presentation and other background materials from our website.
Mark your calendars for the next topics in our series:
February 27, 2008 at 3:00 pm Eastern: "Recovery Community Centers Part 1"
March 26, 2008 at 3:00 pm Eastern: "Recovery Community Centers Part 2"
April 23, 2008 at 3:00 pm Eastern: Topic to be announced
Please email us for further information. We look forward to your joining us on the 30th at 3:00 pm Eastern. Register today!
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future eNewsletters.
"Recovery Voices Count"
Join us on Wednesday, January 30 at 3:00 pm Eastern for the first in our four-part 2008 Recovery Advocacy teleconferences. These one-hour interactive teleconferences will give you expert information and a chance to ask questions of our experts.
Growing numbers of recovery community organizations and recovery advocates across the country are getting involved in nonpartisan civic engagement activities so that their voices can be heard in the local, state and national arenas. They are conducting voter registration and Get-Out-the-Vote activities, sponsoring candidate forums and getting candidates for political office on record about critical policies that will make recovery a reality for even more Americans. During this teleconference, you will learn from experts in the field about how to get involved in this exciting campaign.
Faces & Voices of Recovery's National Field Director Tom Coderre will give an overview of Recovery Voices Count and we will hear from recovery advocates and allies about how to:
Register voters at your events
Educate voters and candidates about public policies that support recovery
Get-out-the-vote
Registration: To register, click here today. Please note, registration for this teleconference will close at 5:00 p.m. EST on January 28, 2007.
When you register, you will receive the telephone number for the teleconference. We will email you a link to download the PowerPoint presentation closer to January 30th. You will also be able to download the PowerPoint presentation and other background materials from our website.
Mark your calendars for the next topics in our series:
February 27, 2008 at 3:00 pm Eastern: "Recovery Community Centers Part 1"
March 26, 2008 at 3:00 pm Eastern: "Recovery Community Centers Part 2"
April 23, 2008 at 3:00 pm Eastern: Topic to be announced
Please email us for further information. We look forward to your joining us on the 30th at 3:00 pm Eastern. Register today!
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future eNewsletters.
Monday, December 17, 2007
CADCA Forum
Register Now for CADCA’s National Leadership Forum!
Is your coalition looking for a solution to fight underage drinking or prescription drug abuse, or for new ways to strengthen your coalition efforts? Whatever your community’s challenge is, you are sure to find a solution at CADCA’s 18th Annual National Leadership Forum, held Feb. 11-14, 2008 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. CADCA’s Forum is the nation’s largest training event for community coalition leaders and substance abuse professionals, featuring more than 100 workshops on key drug prevention, treatment and issues.
This year’s Forum will feature a keynote presentation by Dr. Drew Pinsky, a board-certified addiction medicine specialist and popular national radio and television host, whose experience with addicts and teens spans more than 20 years. The Forum will kick off with CSAP’s Community Prevention Day on Monday, Feb. 11, 2008, which will focus on leadership and its impact on the vulnerable populations & communities that we serve.
Register now using CADCA’s online registration system. This year, we've streamline the registration process to make it faster and easier than last year. When prompted, enter your user ID, noted above. Remember to register before Friday, January 4, 2008 to receive the early-bird discount.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Make Your Capitol Hill Day Appointments TODAY
Last year during CADCA´s National Leadership Forum, more than 1,000 coalition leaders and Forum attendees from around the country headed to Capitol Hill to educate their legislators about the effectiveness of substance abuse prevention, education and treatment. Now it´s time for coalitions to gear up for CADCA´s 2008 Capitol Hill Day, held during CADCA´s 18th Annual National Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C., by scheduling appointments with their U.S. senators and representatives. CADCA has allotted time between 1-5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008 for appointments.
Appointments should not be made before 1:00 pm, since CADCA expects members of Congress to attend the morning plenary session. It’s also important to try to make appointments on the House side earlier in the day, as the Capitol Hill reception will be held in the evening on the Senate side.
Information on how to set up appointments is located in CADCA’s Capitol Hill Handbook.
For those with five or more people attending a meeting, CADCA can help. Simply complete the CAPITOL HILL MEETINGS FORM and e-mail it to David Kurosky at dkurosky@cadca.org, or via fax at 703-706-0565.
To locate a phone number of a senator or representative, call the Capitol Switchboard at 202- 225-3121 to be connected to the appropriate office. This information can also be found in Appendix A of the Capitol Hill Day Handbook.
For questions or concerns, contact David Kurosky at 703-706-0560 ext. 255 or Kelly Lieupo at klieupo@cadca.org or 703-706-0560 ext. 241.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Using Social Media Tools to Enhance Coalition Efforts
You hear about people watching podcasts on their iPods and about teens posting messages on their blogs or using Facebook to communicate with their friends, but did you know that these social media tools can also be used to enhance your coalition work? Learn how at CADCA´s National Leadership Forum XVIII, held Feb. 11-14, 2007 in Washington, D.C.
During “Adding Social Media to Your Coalition's Marketing Arsenal” workshop, part of the Forum’s new Science & Technology Series, participants will learn about the growing number of social media tools available, such as blogs, podcasts and RSS Readers, and how to incorporate them into their communications and marketing plans. Another workshop, entitled “Social Networking: Can You Digg It?” will teach participants about the many social networking tools available to help coalition leaders stay knowledgeable and influential, such as Facebook, Wikispaces, Digg and Flickr.
Social media tools, such as blogs or podcasts, are an inexpensive way to enhance a coalition’s marketing and membership or volunteer recruitment efforts.
For example, as a way to attract more members or volunteers, coalitions can podcast recordings or video clips on their websites of current members talking about why they participate in coalition activities. They can also be used as way to involve youth in coalition efforts, by having youth create their own podcasts. Coalitions may also find blogs useful. Blogs, which are websites where people can post entries of text, can allow coalitions to reach a greater number of people with their messages. For example, the coalition director can have his or her own blog, with her own articles or opinions on a subject. The coalition could create a blog and put youth in charge of writing content for it.
Click here to learn more about these and other workshops at CADCA’s National Leadership Forum XVIII
Is your coalition looking for a solution to fight underage drinking or prescription drug abuse, or for new ways to strengthen your coalition efforts? Whatever your community’s challenge is, you are sure to find a solution at CADCA’s 18th Annual National Leadership Forum, held Feb. 11-14, 2008 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. CADCA’s Forum is the nation’s largest training event for community coalition leaders and substance abuse professionals, featuring more than 100 workshops on key drug prevention, treatment and issues.
This year’s Forum will feature a keynote presentation by Dr. Drew Pinsky, a board-certified addiction medicine specialist and popular national radio and television host, whose experience with addicts and teens spans more than 20 years. The Forum will kick off with CSAP’s Community Prevention Day on Monday, Feb. 11, 2008, which will focus on leadership and its impact on the vulnerable populations & communities that we serve.
Register now using CADCA’s online registration system. This year, we've streamline the registration process to make it faster and easier than last year. When prompted, enter your user ID, noted above. Remember to register before Friday, January 4, 2008 to receive the early-bird discount.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Make Your Capitol Hill Day Appointments TODAY
Last year during CADCA´s National Leadership Forum, more than 1,000 coalition leaders and Forum attendees from around the country headed to Capitol Hill to educate their legislators about the effectiveness of substance abuse prevention, education and treatment. Now it´s time for coalitions to gear up for CADCA´s 2008 Capitol Hill Day, held during CADCA´s 18th Annual National Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C., by scheduling appointments with their U.S. senators and representatives. CADCA has allotted time between 1-5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008 for appointments.
Appointments should not be made before 1:00 pm, since CADCA expects members of Congress to attend the morning plenary session. It’s also important to try to make appointments on the House side earlier in the day, as the Capitol Hill reception will be held in the evening on the Senate side.
Information on how to set up appointments is located in CADCA’s Capitol Hill Handbook.
For those with five or more people attending a meeting, CADCA can help. Simply complete the CAPITOL HILL MEETINGS FORM and e-mail it to David Kurosky at dkurosky@cadca.org, or via fax at 703-706-0565.
To locate a phone number of a senator or representative, call the Capitol Switchboard at 202- 225-3121 to be connected to the appropriate office. This information can also be found in Appendix A of the Capitol Hill Day Handbook.
For questions or concerns, contact David Kurosky at 703-706-0560 ext. 255 or Kelly Lieupo at klieupo@cadca.org or 703-706-0560 ext. 241.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Using Social Media Tools to Enhance Coalition Efforts
You hear about people watching podcasts on their iPods and about teens posting messages on their blogs or using Facebook to communicate with their friends, but did you know that these social media tools can also be used to enhance your coalition work? Learn how at CADCA´s National Leadership Forum XVIII, held Feb. 11-14, 2007 in Washington, D.C.
During “Adding Social Media to Your Coalition's Marketing Arsenal” workshop, part of the Forum’s new Science & Technology Series, participants will learn about the growing number of social media tools available, such as blogs, podcasts and RSS Readers, and how to incorporate them into their communications and marketing plans. Another workshop, entitled “Social Networking: Can You Digg It?” will teach participants about the many social networking tools available to help coalition leaders stay knowledgeable and influential, such as Facebook, Wikispaces, Digg and Flickr.
Social media tools, such as blogs or podcasts, are an inexpensive way to enhance a coalition’s marketing and membership or volunteer recruitment efforts.
For example, as a way to attract more members or volunteers, coalitions can podcast recordings or video clips on their websites of current members talking about why they participate in coalition activities. They can also be used as way to involve youth in coalition efforts, by having youth create their own podcasts. Coalitions may also find blogs useful. Blogs, which are websites where people can post entries of text, can allow coalitions to reach a greater number of people with their messages. For example, the coalition director can have his or her own blog, with her own articles or opinions on a subject. The coalition could create a blog and put youth in charge of writing content for it.
Click here to learn more about these and other workshops at CADCA’s National Leadership Forum XVIII
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
FAVOR Advocacy Information
Support Increased FY 2008 Funding for SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment and the Recovery Community Services (RCSP) Program
(Favor receives funding from Robert Wood Johnson $190,000.00, CSAT $75,000.00 and NIDA $60,000.00)
March 28, 2007
BACKGROUND
For many people, federal and state-funded treatment and recovery services are the only way that they can get help for alcohol and other drug problems and get on the path to long-term recovery. Over 21 million Americans aged 12 or over still need help and aren’t getting it. Almost half of the people who tried to get help were denied treatment because of cost or insurance barriers. The shortage of addiction treatment and peer and other recovery support services results in waiting lists in many places, sometimes as long as six months.
The President’s request of $352.1 million for CSAT in FY 2008 is a decrease of $46.8 million from FY 2007. It includes a $3.9 million cut in the Recovery Community Services Program (RCSP) and the virtual elimination of funding for the National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month.
RCSP Funding
FY 2006 Actual: $8,8 million
FY 2007 Actual: $9.1 million
FY 2008 President’s Proposed: $5.3 million
Decrease: $ -3.9 million
ABOUT THE RECOVERY COMMUNITY SERVICES PROGRAM (RCSP)
RCSP is a key innovative federal program that is helping individuals in their communities get help for addiction to alcohol and other drugs and once they are clean and sober, sustain their recovery and get their lives back on track. The RCSP has supported nearly 50 projects since it began in 1998. Initially the grants were intended to organize the recovery community to provide public education and policy change. In 2002, RCSP changed focus and began supporting organizations that provide services and enable peers in stable recovery to help others avoid relapse and move into long-term recovery.
Across the country, 24 current grantees (six more will be funded in 2007) are providing peer-to-peer recovery support services, pioneering ways that communities can support people in recovery and their families. Many of the grant projects rely on the willingness of individuals in recovery and their family members to voluntarily “give back” to those who are seeking recovery.
The grants’ average awards have been $350,000 per year for each grantee for four years. SAMHSA/CSAT received more than 140 applications for the last grant cycle in FY 2006, seven of which were funded. The agency made no awards in 2005.
Recovery community and faith-based organizations have developed and are demonstrating ways to prevent relapse, promote long-term recovery, and improve the quality of life of tens of thousands of individuals and their families. These community-based organizations have assessed their community’s specific local strengths and needs, developed programs that have been demonstrated to address them, drawing on the abilities of people in long-term recovery who serve as peers.
RCSP promotes a recovery-oriented system of care by bridging the gap between short-term episodes of treatment and long-term recovery that is grounded in community support. Peer services are non-clinical and enhance clinically-driven treatment outcomes through holistic, community-based services. Peer services act as a safety net for individuals who suffer relapse and offer a streamlined reentry to treatment, if necessary. Peer recovery services are completely distinct and separate from 12-step groups and other mutual aid supports. However, the RCSP emphasizes helping individuals create a network of varied recovery supports that can include mutual aid and 12-step supports.
Peer Recovery Support Services include peer coaching and mentoring and a variety of educational and skill-training services, including help in securing housing, education and employment; building constructive family and other personal relationships; managing stress; participating in alcohol-and other drug-free social and recreational activities; and obtaining services from multiple systems such as the primary and mental health care, child welfare, and criminal justice systems. Many of these services are delivered at the growing number of recovery community centers around the country.
The National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine report, Crossing the Quality Chasm: Improving the Quality of Health Care for Mental and Substance-Use Conditions (November 2005) highlighted the long history of peer support/mutual support group/recovery consumers as providers of alcohol and other drug treatment services, pointing to the effective programs being carried out by SAMHSA’s RCSP program.
ABOUT RECOVERY MONTH
For the last seventeen years, September National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month (Recovery Month) observances are held across the country. Public and private sector organizations sponsor a wide variety of events and activities that promote awareness of the reality of long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.
665 Recovery Month events were held in 338 cities in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico in 2006, reaching almost 4 million people.
Road to Recovery Webcasts, in a talk and magazine show format, attracted almost 8,000 views, with more than 318 distinct public education government cable channels in 295 cable systems throughout the country airing the series, reaching more than 15.5 million cable households, representing an estimated earned media value of $4 million.
The Recovery Month web site received more than 15.8 million hits (15,827,985 an indicator of Web server traffic) and the site logged in 981,717 “unique visitors” (an indicator of new visitors).
In total, the overall estimated earned media value for all radio PSAs released from 2002 through 2006 is $9,818,355 with a collective listenership of 1,003,580,689.
2006 Recovery Month events reached almost 4 million people and the television and radio public service announcements reached more than 178 million viewers and 233 million listeners, respectively
(Favor receives funding from Robert Wood Johnson $190,000.00, CSAT $75,000.00 and NIDA $60,000.00)
March 28, 2007
BACKGROUND
For many people, federal and state-funded treatment and recovery services are the only way that they can get help for alcohol and other drug problems and get on the path to long-term recovery. Over 21 million Americans aged 12 or over still need help and aren’t getting it. Almost half of the people who tried to get help were denied treatment because of cost or insurance barriers. The shortage of addiction treatment and peer and other recovery support services results in waiting lists in many places, sometimes as long as six months.
The President’s request of $352.1 million for CSAT in FY 2008 is a decrease of $46.8 million from FY 2007. It includes a $3.9 million cut in the Recovery Community Services Program (RCSP) and the virtual elimination of funding for the National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month.
RCSP Funding
FY 2006 Actual: $8,8 million
FY 2007 Actual: $9.1 million
FY 2008 President’s Proposed: $5.3 million
Decrease: $ -3.9 million
ABOUT THE RECOVERY COMMUNITY SERVICES PROGRAM (RCSP)
RCSP is a key innovative federal program that is helping individuals in their communities get help for addiction to alcohol and other drugs and once they are clean and sober, sustain their recovery and get their lives back on track. The RCSP has supported nearly 50 projects since it began in 1998. Initially the grants were intended to organize the recovery community to provide public education and policy change. In 2002, RCSP changed focus and began supporting organizations that provide services and enable peers in stable recovery to help others avoid relapse and move into long-term recovery.
Across the country, 24 current grantees (six more will be funded in 2007) are providing peer-to-peer recovery support services, pioneering ways that communities can support people in recovery and their families. Many of the grant projects rely on the willingness of individuals in recovery and their family members to voluntarily “give back” to those who are seeking recovery.
The grants’ average awards have been $350,000 per year for each grantee for four years. SAMHSA/CSAT received more than 140 applications for the last grant cycle in FY 2006, seven of which were funded. The agency made no awards in 2005.
Recovery community and faith-based organizations have developed and are demonstrating ways to prevent relapse, promote long-term recovery, and improve the quality of life of tens of thousands of individuals and their families. These community-based organizations have assessed their community’s specific local strengths and needs, developed programs that have been demonstrated to address them, drawing on the abilities of people in long-term recovery who serve as peers.
RCSP promotes a recovery-oriented system of care by bridging the gap between short-term episodes of treatment and long-term recovery that is grounded in community support. Peer services are non-clinical and enhance clinically-driven treatment outcomes through holistic, community-based services. Peer services act as a safety net for individuals who suffer relapse and offer a streamlined reentry to treatment, if necessary. Peer recovery services are completely distinct and separate from 12-step groups and other mutual aid supports. However, the RCSP emphasizes helping individuals create a network of varied recovery supports that can include mutual aid and 12-step supports.
Peer Recovery Support Services include peer coaching and mentoring and a variety of educational and skill-training services, including help in securing housing, education and employment; building constructive family and other personal relationships; managing stress; participating in alcohol-and other drug-free social and recreational activities; and obtaining services from multiple systems such as the primary and mental health care, child welfare, and criminal justice systems. Many of these services are delivered at the growing number of recovery community centers around the country.
The National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine report, Crossing the Quality Chasm: Improving the Quality of Health Care for Mental and Substance-Use Conditions (November 2005) highlighted the long history of peer support/mutual support group/recovery consumers as providers of alcohol and other drug treatment services, pointing to the effective programs being carried out by SAMHSA’s RCSP program.
ABOUT RECOVERY MONTH
For the last seventeen years, September National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month (Recovery Month) observances are held across the country. Public and private sector organizations sponsor a wide variety of events and activities that promote awareness of the reality of long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.
665 Recovery Month events were held in 338 cities in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico in 2006, reaching almost 4 million people.
Road to Recovery Webcasts, in a talk and magazine show format, attracted almost 8,000 views, with more than 318 distinct public education government cable channels in 295 cable systems throughout the country airing the series, reaching more than 15.5 million cable households, representing an estimated earned media value of $4 million.
The Recovery Month web site received more than 15.8 million hits (15,827,985 an indicator of Web server traffic) and the site logged in 981,717 “unique visitors” (an indicator of new visitors).
In total, the overall estimated earned media value for all radio PSAs released from 2002 through 2006 is $9,818,355 with a collective listenership of 1,003,580,689.
2006 Recovery Month events reached almost 4 million people and the television and radio public service announcements reached more than 178 million viewers and 233 million listeners, respectively
CADCA Forum Scholarships
Deadline for Forum Scholarship Applications Extended to Dec. 10
CADCA, along with support from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) and DIRECTV, is providing scholarships to attend CADCA’s 2008 Forum. Scholarships cover costs related to attending CADCA´s Forum, including registration fees and up to four nights accommodation at the Grand Hyatt Washington Hotel. CADCA encourages youth to apply for these valuable scholarships!
Eligible applicants include CADCA member coalitions that have been in existence for at least six months and coalitions that can demonstrate a financial need for the scholarships. Scholarships will cover no more than one youth and one adult per coalition.
The deadline for scholarship applications has been extended until Monday, December 10.
To learn more about CADCA’s 18th Annual National Leadership Forum, including scholarship information, visit:
www.cadca.org/events/forum/forum18.
CADCA, along with support from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) and DIRECTV, is providing scholarships to attend CADCA’s 2008 Forum. Scholarships cover costs related to attending CADCA´s Forum, including registration fees and up to four nights accommodation at the Grand Hyatt Washington Hotel. CADCA encourages youth to apply for these valuable scholarships!
Eligible applicants include CADCA member coalitions that have been in existence for at least six months and coalitions that can demonstrate a financial need for the scholarships. Scholarships will cover no more than one youth and one adult per coalition.
The deadline for scholarship applications has been extended until Monday, December 10.
To learn more about CADCA’s 18th Annual National Leadership Forum, including scholarship information, visit:
www.cadca.org/events/forum/forum18.
Faces and Voices of Recovery New Hampshire Recovery Town Hall
Dear Colleagues,
Now that the dust has settled from this past Sunday's first in the nation Presidential Town Hall Meeting which introduced Presidential Candidates and their campaigns to addiction recovery issues, I wanted to provide you with a brief report of the event...
First, I want to say how happy I was that we accomplished many of our goals and to tell you that the event was a great success on so many levels. I was especially pleased with how many campaigns were represented - 9 in all. Seven Democrats - Clinton, Edwards, Obama, Richardson, Kucinich, Biden and Gravel and two Republicans - Huckabee and McCain sent representatives. We came close to getting surrogates for Dodd, Romney and Giuliani but they unfortunately did not come through in the end. Each of the campaign surrogates took the time to educate themselves on our issues and some provided us with prepared statements from the candidates to publish after the event. We could tell from their remarks that they had visited our website and thought about our issues. While it was disappointing that we did not have candidates attend, it wasn't because they don't care about our issues. Rather it was simply a function of the front loaded primary process this cycle. The Iowa Caucus is days away from the New Hampshire Primary making Iowa an important place to campaign right now. Not to mention Michigan, Nevada & South Carolina which are right on the heels of these first two contests. These factors are keeping candidates jumping from state to state trying to get as much face time with voters as possible. Candidates were just not in New Hampshire on Sunday.
We received great media coverage around the event - almost 10 stories in all! This helped educate candidates (who read clippings), public policy makers and members of the general public who were not able to attend, providing them with good information on our issues. This education through media outreach is so important for our long-term work as well as the impact it has on changing negative public attitudes and ending discrimination each time we receive a positive story. I'm attaching some excerpts from an article from the Union Leader (the statewide newspaper of record in New Hampshire ) and some quotes we received from folks who attended the event. I'm also attaching the printed program for the event in case you're interested in seeing how it was laid out.
The actual town hall meeting was impressive on all fronts as we had...
A great moderator - Lisa Peakes, NH Public Radio's Morning Edition Host, and a person in long-term recovery;
A flawless program - which included speeches from candidate's representatives, questions from the audience, a video of the Emmy Award winning HBO documentary, a reaction panel and a recovery speaker;
High profile campaign surrogates - who did an outstanding job representing their candidates (including a State Senator, several State Representatives, A District Attorney, A former Congressional candidate, the former chair of the State Board of Education, etc.);
A wonderful panel - that reacted to the HBO documentary (the panel included: a family member whose son is in recovery, a student from the first recovery high school in NH, a prevention specialist, a treatment provider representative and the director of a recovery community organization - every panelist identified themselves as being in recovery!);
Passionate questioners - people in recovery, family members, students from the school's prevention program, and women from the Taskforce on Women & Recovery (some who identified as being currently incarcerated in a minimum security work release program)
A great recovery speaker - Carol McDaid, a Faces & Voices Board member told her story and called upon those in attendance to take action by seeking candidates on the stump in the next several weeks and asking them questions;
A dedicated committee - who were brought together back in May by Denise Devlin (who put on a similar event 8 years ago),a former Faces & Voices of Recover Board Member and director of FOR-NH;
and Superb volunteers and students - who helped set up the event and worked to help make the day run smoothly.
This event brought together important Granite State partners in the prevention, treatment and recovery communities including family members and provided them the opportunity to work together and speak with one unified voice. We also had several national allies on board (CADCA, Faces & Voices of Recovery, NAADAC, and The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare). We were grateful to Joe Harding, the Director of the NH Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Policy who supported the event and gave greetings from the State of NH. Former ONDCP Deputy Director (under President Clinton) and State Representative Ricia McMahon was also very helpful in the planning and identifying campaign surrogates. And non-partner organizations like Join Together and New Futures supported the event by promoting it to their extensive email lists.
In addition to the town hall meeting, we were fortunate to meet and talk to several candidates and spouses during the planning process. I personally met Governor Huckabee, Elizabeth Edwards and Bill Clinton. I told them all about the event and I was able to ask Governor Huckabee a question about the parity legislation. Two of our planning committee members also tracked down Senator Biden and Congressman Kucinich and asked them questions. We plan to continue to do this one on one candidate questioning in New Hampshire and we're training folks in Iowa and South Carolina to do the same as part of our larger effort called Recovery Voices Count
Tom Coderre
National Feild Director
Faces and Voices of Recovery
Now that the dust has settled from this past Sunday's first in the nation Presidential Town Hall Meeting which introduced Presidential Candidates and their campaigns to addiction recovery issues, I wanted to provide you with a brief report of the event...
First, I want to say how happy I was that we accomplished many of our goals and to tell you that the event was a great success on so many levels. I was especially pleased with how many campaigns were represented - 9 in all. Seven Democrats - Clinton, Edwards, Obama, Richardson, Kucinich, Biden and Gravel and two Republicans - Huckabee and McCain sent representatives. We came close to getting surrogates for Dodd, Romney and Giuliani but they unfortunately did not come through in the end. Each of the campaign surrogates took the time to educate themselves on our issues and some provided us with prepared statements from the candidates to publish after the event. We could tell from their remarks that they had visited our website and thought about our issues. While it was disappointing that we did not have candidates attend, it wasn't because they don't care about our issues. Rather it was simply a function of the front loaded primary process this cycle. The Iowa Caucus is days away from the New Hampshire Primary making Iowa an important place to campaign right now. Not to mention Michigan, Nevada & South Carolina which are right on the heels of these first two contests. These factors are keeping candidates jumping from state to state trying to get as much face time with voters as possible. Candidates were just not in New Hampshire on Sunday.
We received great media coverage around the event - almost 10 stories in all! This helped educate candidates (who read clippings), public policy makers and members of the general public who were not able to attend, providing them with good information on our issues. This education through media outreach is so important for our long-term work as well as the impact it has on changing negative public attitudes and ending discrimination each time we receive a positive story. I'm attaching some excerpts from an article from the Union Leader (the statewide newspaper of record in New Hampshire ) and some quotes we received from folks who attended the event. I'm also attaching the printed program for the event in case you're interested in seeing how it was laid out.
The actual town hall meeting was impressive on all fronts as we had...
A great moderator - Lisa Peakes, NH Public Radio's Morning Edition Host, and a person in long-term recovery;
A flawless program - which included speeches from candidate's representatives, questions from the audience, a video of the Emmy Award winning HBO documentary, a reaction panel and a recovery speaker;
High profile campaign surrogates - who did an outstanding job representing their candidates (including a State Senator, several State Representatives, A District Attorney, A former Congressional candidate, the former chair of the State Board of Education, etc.);
A wonderful panel - that reacted to the HBO documentary (the panel included: a family member whose son is in recovery, a student from the first recovery high school in NH, a prevention specialist, a treatment provider representative and the director of a recovery community organization - every panelist identified themselves as being in recovery!);
Passionate questioners - people in recovery, family members, students from the school's prevention program, and women from the Taskforce on Women & Recovery (some who identified as being currently incarcerated in a minimum security work release program)
A great recovery speaker - Carol McDaid, a Faces & Voices Board member told her story and called upon those in attendance to take action by seeking candidates on the stump in the next several weeks and asking them questions;
A dedicated committee - who were brought together back in May by Denise Devlin (who put on a similar event 8 years ago),a former Faces & Voices of Recover Board Member and director of FOR-NH;
and Superb volunteers and students - who helped set up the event and worked to help make the day run smoothly.
This event brought together important Granite State partners in the prevention, treatment and recovery communities including family members and provided them the opportunity to work together and speak with one unified voice. We also had several national allies on board (CADCA, Faces & Voices of Recovery, NAADAC, and The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare). We were grateful to Joe Harding, the Director of the NH Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Policy who supported the event and gave greetings from the State of NH. Former ONDCP Deputy Director (under President Clinton) and State Representative Ricia McMahon was also very helpful in the planning and identifying campaign surrogates. And non-partner organizations like Join Together and New Futures supported the event by promoting it to their extensive email lists.
In addition to the town hall meeting, we were fortunate to meet and talk to several candidates and spouses during the planning process. I personally met Governor Huckabee, Elizabeth Edwards and Bill Clinton. I told them all about the event and I was able to ask Governor Huckabee a question about the parity legislation. Two of our planning committee members also tracked down Senator Biden and Congressman Kucinich and asked them questions. We plan to continue to do this one on one candidate questioning in New Hampshire and we're training folks in Iowa and South Carolina to do the same as part of our larger effort called Recovery Voices Count
Tom Coderre
National Feild Director
Faces and Voices of Recovery
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