Substance Abuse Council Agenda

August 3, 2021

Evansville Central Library, Browning Room A

1.         Call to Order

2.         Welcome and Introductions

3.         Approval of July minutes. (please check the attendance list for corrections)

4.         Committee Reports

            a.         Prevention

            b.         Law Enforcement

            c.         Treatment

4.         Director’s Report

5.         Old Business/Projects

            A.  Race for Recovery:  Set-up 6:00 a.m., Saturday, August 28

                        i. Course

                        ii. Volunteers

                        iii. Tables

                        iv. Goody bags

                        v. Sponsors

                        vi. Post cards and registration forms; on line registration: https://register.chronotrack.com/r/62236

            B.  Fall Festival Committee: Next meeting August 16, after the executive committee meeting at 12

            C.  National Night Out, August 3, 6:30 to 8:00

            D.  1st Quarterly Report submitted.

6.         New Business:

            a.  Date of next meeting:  September 6 is labor day.

            b.  Set up meetings of Prevention, Law Enforcement and Treatment Committees

7.         Presentations:

            a.  Financial Literacy Training, Ben Joergens, ONB

            b.  Cheryl McDermott; Alkermes

            c.  Grantee presentation schedule

8.         Agency Announcements: In addition to agency announcements being made here, please email flyers to Dan that can be forwarded early tomorrow.

9.         Adjournment

NEXT MEETING: The next meeting of the Substance Abuse Council will be held on Monday, September 13? at 1:30pm, at the Evansville Central Library, Browning Room A.

The SAC Executive Committee will meet August 16, at noon, by MS Teams meeting.

The Fall Festival Committee will meet August 16, by MS Teams, after the Executive Committee concludes.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE COUNCIL OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY

MINUTES OF THE MEMBERSHIP MEETING

 12 July 2021

Members present:  Ashley Gray – Patchwork; Jill Hoskins – Brentwood; Ginny France – Anthem; Wally Paynter – TSA; Kevin Groves – Southwestern Behavioral Health; Hannah McPhail – Counseling for Change; William Wells – DADS; Jackie Hughes – ECHO Community Health; Crystal Sisson – Holly’s House; Courtney Horning – SmokeFree Communities; Brigitte Hill – VC Health Dept.; Savannah Patterson – VC Health Dept.; Ashly Holt – VC Health Dept.; April Miller – Boom Squad; Stacey Kuder – Deaconess Cross Pointe; Elissa Jones – Deaconess Cross Pointe; Marge Gianapolous – Youth First; Mary Fee – Girl Scouts; Kelsey Hillenbrand – Girl Scouts; Leslie Jackson; Vanderburgh Misdemeanor Court Probation; Dee Lewis – YWCA; Molly Fahrlander – Patchwork Central; Sheila Rollin – TSA; Beth Greenwell – Vand. Adult Probation; Jane Vickers – Patchwork Central

President Dee Lewis called the meeting to order at 1:31 pm at the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library, Central Campus, Browning Room A.  As this was the first in-person meeting in many months, President Lewis had everyone in the room introduce themselves.

Minutes of the June 7, 2021, meeting had been emailed in advance of the meeting. Crystal Sisson moved that the minutes be approved as written; Jackie Hughes seconded the motion. The motion carried

Committee Reports:

Prevention Committee.  Laura Wathen, chairman, was on vacation.

Law Enforcement Committee.  Chairman Daren Harmon was on vacation.

Treatment Committee:  Chairman Jackie Hughes had no report.

Director’s Report:  Dan Miller reported on the director’s activities since the last meeting.  His written report is attached to these minutes. 

Previous Business:

              2021 Grants:  All vouchers have now been submitted to the Auditor’s Office.  Grantees should now have their funds.  If a grantee has not yet received funding, please contact Dan.

              Fall Festival Booth Committee:  The committee met on June 28.  The next committee meeting is August 16 after the executive committee meeting.  Please contact Dan if you want to be included and he will send you the link.

              Race for Recovery:  Dan passed out Save the Date Cards, registration forms and sponsorship proposals.  If anyone needs more, please contact Dan and he will deliver them.  The registration fee will remain $20.00.  Sponsorship commitments need to be in by July 23; a check can come later.  Logos for the shirt need to be in by July 23.  Dan has ordered t-shirts, but has finalized the design yet.

              National Night Out:  Dan asked for a couple of volunteers for our table at National Night Out on August 3, 2021, from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at Carver Community Center.  Volunteers do not have to commit to the entire time.

              12-month (final) reports for the 2020 grants.  All but 3 grantees have submitted final reports.  Dan has read through all submitted reports.  He delivered a short powerpoint presentation on the kinds of data that should be in the Substance Abuse Council progress reports.  He highlighted submissions by the Drug and Alcohol Deferral Services (D.A.D.S.), Holly’s House and Patchwork Central.  He encouraged grantees to keep in mind the following 4 questions as they implemented the 2021 grants using SAC funds:

              What data are you collecting?

              What data can you collect?

              What data should you collect?

              What is your baseline data?

New Business:

              ICJI Quarterly Reports:  The first of these is due this week, July 15.  Dan also met with Cory Smith of ICJI for a critique of the 2021 Comprehensive Community Plan.  We need to update our data, and refine our problem statements and SMART goals.

Presentations:

  1. Deaconess Cross Pointe:  Elissa Jones reported on their Improving Recovery Through Technology grant.  They were able to purchase the Field Guide to Life app from Hazelden.  The app included 12-step reminders, hints on how to stop cravings, daily inspirations, and a days in sobriety counter, among many other services.  Shortly after the purchase and due to the pandemic, Hazelden began offering the app free of charge.  Deaconess was able to give away 42 (of 400).  If a patient received a free app, Deaconess had not ability to monitor whether the patient utilized the app.  Deaconess will continue to give the apps to patients.
  • Vanderburgh Superior Court, Misdemeanor Division:  Leslie Jackson, chief probation officer, reported on the grant for a verification officer.  A verification officer is a law enforcement officer employed part time by the probation office to visit probationers outside of regular business hours and check on compliance, including the administration of breathalyzers.  The office is supervised by Judge Pigman.  It has 4 probation officers, 254 probationers, 20 pending probationers, 30 mental health cases, 54 probationers who are AWOL, and 40 probation transfers from other counties.
  • Legislative Update:  Dan Miller gave a powerpoint presentation on legislation to go into effect in July, and that will affect SAC members.  He covered the legislation on suspendable sentences for Level 2 and 3 felony drug dealing offenders, the limited defense for operating a vehicle with THC in the bloodstream, the funding of Recovery Works, the funding available through FSSA for mental health, specifically relating to suicide and overdose prevention, and the protection of the home addresses of probation and community corrections officers.

Announcements:

  • Kevin Groves announced the Southwestern Behavioral Health was hosting an in-person community forum on Domestic Violence and Substance Use Disorder tomorrow, July 13 at 6:00 pm.  A light meal will be served.  Reservations are required by 5:00 pm today.
  • Jane Vickers announced that Patchwork Central is having its “Bag to School” sale for families of children in grades K through 6 on July 31.  She advised us to tell interested families to get there early (7:30 am) because they tend to sell out quick.
  • Dan reported that SAC received a free copy of Kevin Sabet’s book, Smoke Screen, at the SAC office.  He has read his own copy, and he invited members to borrow it from the office.

The next meeting is scheduled Monday, August 2, at 1:30, at Central Library, Browning Room A.  

The next Executive Committee Meeting is Monday, July 19, at noon, via Microsoft Teams.

Jill Hoskins moved to adjourn the meeting; the motion was seconded by Mike Gray.  The motion passed, and Dee Lewis adjourned the meeting at 2:40 pm.

Submitted by Dan Miller

Director’s Report

July 12, 2021

Meetings attended:

Smoke-Free Evansville

Indiana Coalition Network monthly webinar

EVSC Big Table

I received and read 2020 grant 12-month reports, which were due June 25.  Some are late; some are still outstanding.  As I am doing this, I am making mental notes on things that need to be changed (1) with what the report asks for and (2) with our comprehensive plan. 

Race for Recovery:  Sent out sponsorship proposals, solicited t-shirt prices, and tried to make contact with the National Recovery Month sponsor, and with Rise Up and Run.  I obtained a Certificate of Insurance for the Event, inventoried sponsor banners stored in the office, and ordered Save the Date cards.

Fall Festival:  Obtained a Certificate of Insurance for the event and sent in our Munchie Map selections.  I had to resend our contract because when I sent in the Munchie Map, he did not have our contract.  He later found it, but I was sweating bullets.  Luckily, I had sent it and had requested confirmation that he had received it, and I still had that email.

I reserved the Browning Room for our July and August meetings.  I also set up and tested Microsoft Teams for smaller meetings such as our executive committee and subcommittee meetings.  It was good that I set up a test session because it failed spectacularly, but we succeeded on our third try.

I scheduled a critique of our CCP with Cory Smith and participated in that critique.  I asked to be critiqued early (he was going to do it in August) because I wanted to know what we need to work on.  The critique:  we need to work on updating our data, narrowing our problem statements to no more than 3, and refining our SMART goals.

While this was not in the scope of my employment, I attended the IPAC Summer Conference and moderated a panel discussion with elected prosecutors about Indiana’s Evidence Based Decision Making initiative and the pretrial reform pilots in Indiana.  That same week I was interviewed for a case study of EBDM focused on Indiana.  

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