Look for the green ribbons and the green hearts around town to remind people that May is mental health awareness month.
Medfield residents – if you feel the need for mental health assistance, you can find counselors through Medfield’s subscription to the INTERFACE Referral Service – click or call INTERFACE (617-332-3666 x1411) to get:
INTERFACE is made available to Medfield residents without cost because of underwriting from the Medfield Coalition for Suicide Prevention, a Medfield Foundation initiative that pays the annual fee.
TO DONATE to the Medfield Coalition for Suicide Prevention.
The Medfield Foundation Legacy Fund Grant Presentation Ceremony
(Pictured from left to right) Todd Trehubenko, MFi Legacy Fund Co-Chair; Christian Donner, Friends of the Medfield Rail Trail; Dawn Alcott, Medfield Cares About Prevention (MCAP); Jean Mineo of the Cultural Alliance of Medfield; Chris Cahill, MFi Legacy Fund Co-Chair
When the Medfield Youth Outreach team from Medfield Cares About Prevention (MCAP) submitted a grant request to the Medfield Foundation Legacy Fund team to hire Bright Solutions Consulting to review and assist with writing MCAP’s federal Drug Free Communities grant application, it seemed like a long shot. Those involved all believed that the goal of making Medfield a recognized Drug Free Community was worth pursuing.
The Legacy Fund team took a chance on MCAP and awarded it a $5,000 grant in November 2018 and MCAP immediately went to work with the consultant on their federal grant application. The grant request was submitted in early 2019 and the team waited for the big announcement. On November 6, 2019 it was announced that MCAP was awarded a FY 2019 Drug-Free Communities Support Program grant in the amount of $625,000 paid over five years by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, in cooperation with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. This grant will allow the coalition to hire a full-time prevention coordinator who will carry out evidence-based strategies aimed at preventing youth substance use in the Medfield community, services that have been proven to reduce substance abuse in other towns.
“The MCAP coalition owes the success of the DFC grant application to the Medfield Foundation Legacy Fund grant, which allowed MCAP to hire an experienced grant writer,” said Chelsea Goldstein-Walsh LICSW, the Interim Director of Medfield Youth Outreach. “We are looking forward to launching a proactive and comprehensive effort to decrease youth substance use and promote wellness in the community.”
The Medfield Foundation Legacy Fund is an endowment established for the long-term benefit of the Medfield community which will also engage in annual grant-making to support community-driven projects. “This is exactly how we see the funds from the Legacy Fund being used to benefit Medfield,” said Todd Trehubenko, co-chair of the MFi Legacy Fund. “We think of the grants we can provide to be like an accelerant, helping add fuel to help grow programs and services that benefit Medfield residents.”
The Medfield Foundation Legacy Fund’s fundraising goal of $1,000,000 will enable the fund to grant annual funding requests. They are currently looking for founders/investors to help build the endowment which will enable this level of giving back to the community.
About Medfield Foundation
The Medfield Foundation (MFi) is a 100% volunteer run 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable corporation whose mission is to enrich the lives of Medfield residents, build a stronger community, and facilitate the raising and allocation of private funds for public needs in the town of Medfield. Since its inception in 2001, the Medfield Foundation has raised over $2,300,000 (Yes, two million three hundred thousand dollars!) to support community-wide initiatives in Medfield.
MFi was founded based on the realization that some residents were interested in contributing more than town taxes to support projects and services that would enrich life in Medfield. You are urged to go to http://medfieldfoundation.org to learn more.
For more information please contact:
Todd Trehubenko, MFi Legacy Fund Co-Chair
617-785-5619
legacyfund@medfieldfoundation.org
or
Evan Weisenfeld, MFi President
508-740-4367
evan@medfieldfoundation.org
Chelsea Goldstein-Walsh, Interim Director of Medfield Youth Outreach announced this afternoon that Medfield Cares About Prevention (MCAP) (www.MedfieldCares.org) was today awarded a Drug-Free Communities grant of $625,000, to fund a Substance Use Prevention Coordinator who will run MCAP’s prevention efforts. The Federal grant will pay MCAP $125,000 per year for five years, with the hope that the Substance Use Prevention Coordinator position will become permanent after five years. About 150 DFC grants nation wide were awarded this year. Towns that have received past DFC grants have seen a statistical decrease is substance abuse.
Medfield Youth Outreach, first through Dawn Alcott and now Chelsea, initiated, oversee, and manage the MCAP coalition. MCAP had come exceedingly close to getting the Federal grant in prior years it applied.
This year, however, MCAP had the added benefit of having received a $5,000 grant from the Medfield Foundation Legacy Fund’s 2018 inaugural round of grants, which monies MCAP used to hire a grant writer, thereby parlaying the Legacy Fund grant into the $625,000 of benefit for the Town of Medfield.
The Medfield Foundation Legacy Fund is an endowment, created and being funded to make life better in Medfield.
Above photo was from the inaugural Medfield Foundation Legacy Fund grant awards celebration. From L to R are Todd Trehubenko, Christian Donner of the Medfield Rail Trail, Dawn Alcott of MCAP, Jean Mineo of the Cultural Alliance, and Chris Cahill (Todd and Chris are the Co-chairs of the Medfield Foundation Legacy Fund’s Community Board).
The following was Chelsea’s email announcing her good news to MCAP –
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I am happy to report that Medfield Cares About Prevention was selected as one of the Drug-Free Communities grant recipients for this funding cycle! Our town will receive $125,000 a year for 5 years ($625,000 total) to implement prevention strategies aimed at reducing youth substance use. You can see the list of recipients here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/FY-2019-DFC-New-Grant-Award-Recipients-10.29.2019.pdf
Thank you all for your hard work in making our grant application a success! Our next step is to solidify the hiring process for a full-time coalition coordinator with the grant funding to help us implement this work. Our next MCAP meeting on Monday, November 4th at 11:30 am will largely be dedicated to coming up with a hiring plan. I’ve attached a copy of the job description for the coalition coordinator for your reference.
Congratulations to you all for this successful team effort!
Warmly,
Chelsea
Medfield Youth Outreach
Received this afternoon from Carol Read, who appeared to get it from Larry Berkowitz, Director of the Riverside Trauma Center, who is also a frequent lecturer in town for the Medfield Coalition for Suicide Prevention –
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Child Mind Institute:
https://childmind.org/about-us/ Child Mind homepage
https://childmind.org/guide/helping-children-cope-traumatic-event/ Guide to Helping Children Cope After a Traumatic Event, PDF attached
Riverside Trauma Center: Children and trauma, resource links, article, attached and post from Larry Berkowitz, Director, copied below.
https://riversidetraumacenter.org/ Trauma Center homepage
https://riversidetraumacenter.org/trauma-center-resources/ Resources, talking to children, youth and adolescents, coping strategies and practicing self-care after traumatic events. Talking with children…PDF attached
Larry Berkowitz
Yesterday at 6:41 AM
One again we are confronted by the horror and tragedy of mass killing… See More Below
One again we are confronted by the horror and tragedy of mass killings. The news from Ohio and Texas leads to a wide range of reactions: fear, anger, sadness, distress, confusion, disgust, to name just a few emotions. But it is not just emotions- our reactions take on many forms including recurrent thoughts about the events, shattered assumptions about our safety, concentration difficulties, bodily reactions such as feeling exhausted or whatever our “usual” somatic reactions are. For people who have been directly impacted by violence, we know their reactions may be more pronounced, and we have many resources on our website that we hope people will find helpful and suggestions on how to talk with children about these awful events. http://riversidetraumacenter.org/trauma-center-resources/
My greatest concern in these past two days has been the frequency with which I’ve heard people say “we’re not safe anywhere” or “this is the new normal.” I strongly believe we must reject the attitude that we live a new normal, as that implies a sense of learned helplessness, a conviction that nothing can be done. While we may feel vulnerable, we are certainly not helpless. I urge each of us to take personal responsibility for taking some action in response to these latest mass killings. Use your voice! Write a letter, write an email, make phone calls, use social media, contact your local, state and national representatives and express your opinion and concerns, whatever they may be. I am reminded of Margaret Mead’s oft cited quote, “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
In peace,
Larry Berkowitz
Director, Riverside Trauma Center
From my American Association for Justice morning newsletter –
Business Insider (3/5, Brodwin, 4.07M) reports that e-cigarettes “are not without health risks,” and since “they contain nicotine, e-cigarettes are especially dangerous for kids and teens whose brains are still developing.” Specifically “in young people, nicotine appears to blunt emotional control as well as decision-making and impulse-regulation skills,” which “most likely helped prompt a warning about e-cigs from the US surgeon general in December.” In that public advisory, US Surgeon General Jerome Adams “discussed these concerns and said young people should never use e-cigs.” He said, “We need to protect our kids from all tobacco products, including all shapes and sizes of e-cigarettes.” The article adds that some e-cigarettes “appear to contain toxic metals, and using them has been tied to an increased risk of a heart attack.” Experts “say there’s a lot we still don’t know about” vaping “and how it could affect the body.”
Medfield Cares About Prevention (MCAP) received one of the three Medfield Foundation Legacy Fund inaugural grants, one for $5,000, which MCAP will use to hire a grant writer so as to apply for the $625K five year federal grant ($125K/year) for substance abuse prevention staffing in town.
I represent the town government sector at MCAP, and at our meeting a week from tomorrow I will be trying to write that sector’s DFC grant action plan with Amanda Decker of Bright Solutions. Below is part of what Dedham included in its grant application, which was taken from the grant language itself. Here is a link to the PDF:
If anyone wants to share their ideas, they would be welcome.
Look for both the Medfield Coalition for Suicide Prevention (MCSP) and Medfield Cares About Prevention (MCAP) at shared booths tomorrow at Medfield Day on Frairy Street.
Medfield Select Board member
I started this blog to share the interesting and useful information that I saw while doing my job as a Medfield select board member. I thought that my fellow Medfield residents would also find that information interesting and useful as well. This blog is my effort to assist in creating a system to push the information out from the Town House to residents. Let me know if you have any thoughts on how it can be done better.
For information on my other job as an attorney (personal injury, civil litigation, estate planning and administration, and real estate), please feel free to contact me at 617-969-1500 or Osler.Peterson@OslerPeterson.com.
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