MONTE VISTA—The Rio Grande Prevention Partners (RGPP) Community board held their monthly meeting at the Information Center last Tuesday, July 18. Prevention Coordinator Nancy Molina began by thanking RGPP’s youth board for their dedication to special projects, including manning the booth at the Monte Vista Farmers Market and organizing their hike and barbeque, among other accomplishments.
The objective of the meeting was to review effective means of communications for the community board, which completed the orientation process and thus the second phase of the five-phase program. RGPP, the community board, the key leaders and the workgroups can now move on to phase three of the Communities that Care program (CTC), “Develop a Community Profile.”
This phase will involve analyzing data from the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey and other sources and identify the risk and protective factors in the community (defined as Rio Grande County). The Community Leaders and Key Leaders will select tested and effective prevention programs and strategies to minimize the effects of the risk factors and maximize the protective factors. CTC has several data-driven programs, geared toward meeting these goals and taking into consideration the population size of the area, that have trainings and materials readily available. These phases will also involve the leadership of the RGPP Youth Councils which are already active in Del Norte and Monte Vista High Schools.
Molina asked the meeting’s attendees, who consisted of leaders in local schools, local government, youth, parents and advocates from other organizations, to imagine the characteristics of successful teams. Attendees offered characteristics such as having an overall goal, regular updates, matching the strengths of team members with tasks that suit them, working together, being action-oriented and celebrating the successes of the team. To confirm these goals, the community board watched a video on strategies to function well as a group which also included using time effectively, having clear roles, agendas and objectives and seeing conflict as an opportunity to make the team healthier.
When discussing effective internal communications, the board participated in a “pass the message” activity where a statement about prevention science was whispered to one person, who passed it around the table to see what remained of the original statement by the last person. In the community board’s case, very few words and only parts of the original intent were recognizable.
The board watched a video on effective external communications, which emphasized aligning their messaging among all of the members, work groups and boards to ensure the mission of RGPP and the Communities that Care program, as well as the progress being made, remains clear to members of the public, so they know the program is beneficial in preventing youth substance abuse and other youth problems. Molina asked members for their ideas in getting the messages out. Michelle Romero, Del Norte Schools counselor, suggested a regular column in the newspaper from Rio Grande Prevention Partners as the “Tiger Corner” column written by former superintendent Nathan Smith was very popular with parents. Sharon Atencio, a parent member, suggested using official town communications, noting the water bills in Del Norte include community events and information, which is an effective way to reach a large amount of residents. Other suggestions included time on the radio and recruiting other members who communicate regularly with the public.
Molina announced the Communities that Care budget for the second year of the five-year grant has been approved with a $20,000 increase to $150,000. Rio Grande County is the only community in the region to be approved for that amount, which Molina stated will go to stipends for workgroup chairs, stipends for teacher and counselor members for adding the RGPP projects to their already-busy schedule and money will be dedicated to putting on the youth summit on Oct. 26, which will bring youth from Alamosa, Saguache, Costilla and Rio Grande counties together to learn and brainstorm about prevention science and effective projects in their communities.
Molina concluded the meeting by asking the attendees to consider adding suicide prevention support to RGPP’s goals. With the tragic loss of a local youth it is especially relevant to see the potential positive effectiveness of suicide awareness trainings for community board members and youth. According to Molina, two of the youth board members have already conferred with Ryan Anderson of the San Luis Valley Behavioral Health Group (SLVBHG) who told them there are resources available. Ginger Stringer, also with SLVBHG, has relayed a notable increase in depression in youth and adults in the Valley. The group agreed, with Romero emphasizing the seriousness of the problem, telling the board she deals with teens in need of help even in the summertime and outside of school.
Penny Plummer, data specialist for RGPP, added Adams State University will put on Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Trainings (ASIST) upon request and would be an excellent resource for the RGPP to utilize.