Collaboration Leads to Changes for Substance Use Prevention

Stoneham, MA – The Stoneham Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Community has completed a significant milestone for the 5-year, $625,000 grant that was awarded in September of 2017. From May through September, Coalition staff and volunteer members attended three weeks of intensive training in Birmingham, AL.

This training is not only a requirement from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency (SAMHSA) through the federal government; it was also an excellent way for the Coalition to educate themselves on how to implement, evaluate, and sustain community-level change for substance use prevention. As a result of the intensive training, many projects were completed in moving the Coalition’s goals for prevention and treatment forward. These projects include, but are not limited to the following: the formulation of a logic model, strategic action plan, evaluation plan, and ways to sustainably maintain the prevention and treatment initiatives after the ten-year grant cycle.

Amongst all of the learning, prevention planning, traveling, and hard work; volunteers and town staff demonstrated a true expression of the passion and commitment that can be found in the Stoneham community. Stoneham Chief of Police, James McIntyre, and Boys and Girls Club of Stoneham and Wakefield Executive Director, Adam Rodgers, both elected to travel to the training as volunteer Coalition members.

“It is truly inspiring to see the Stoneham community members actively participating in and advocating for changes that can help address the substance use problems that towns and cities across the country are witnessing.” Kayla Vodka, Coalition Coordinator states. Coalitions survive off of the passion and engagement that can be found in the communities in which they reside, making the Stoneham Coalition, and the Town of Stoneham itself, very fortunate to have the caliber of residents that it does.