Thrive Fort Madison taking shape

HAND-OFF

Several in the meeting said that made it sound like we would have money to give, and that’s not the case. I want people to call us when they have trouble. We won’t have money to give, but we can hand them off to someone that can help.”

Allie Houston, Thrive Fort Madison coordinator

FORT MADISON – A new and concerted effort to bring substance abuse awareness to Fort Madison has been percolating this summer and, on Wednesday, a name was given to the effort.
Thrive Fort Madison was created out of a strategic planning meeting that was held Wednesday at the Fort Madison Public Library with a vision of supporting a family-focused Fort Madison working toward a healthy and SAFE community.
SAFE is an acronym for Substance Abuse Free Environment.
Allie Houston, coordinator for the new Thrive Fort Madison group, said it's intentional to leave the words substance abuse or alcohol out of the vision.
“We don’t want people to think about us as focusing on one thing,” she said. “We critiqued it quite a bit.”
Houston said the group started out as the Fort Madison SAFE Coalition, but was operating under the leadership of the SAFE Coalition of Van Buren County. She said Fort Madison is taking steps to be their own entity that would then qualify for state grant funding that could prop up the organization for at least 10 years.
The strategy session Wednesday was attended by 16 people, including Lee County Supervisor Chair Garry Seyb, Supervisor Tom Schulz, Lee County Sheriff Stacy Weber, Fort Madison Police Chief Mark Rohloff, and others.
Lee County also has the Best You Coalition. Houston said there is also an effort underway in Keokuk to get its own coalition. With all those groups working in their geographic areas, the coalition can be a stronger force throughout the county.
The Thrive Fort Madison official vision statement is “A supportive, family-focused Fort Madison that is working toward a healthy, SAFE community.”
The group’s mission statement is: “Provide support for a community focused on family development, equipped to create a SAFE environment for youth and adults, with a helping hand for those in need".
Houston said conversation at the meeting focused on the helping hand portion.
“Several in the meeting said that made it sound like we would have money to give, and that’s not the case. I want people to call us when they have trouble. We won’t have money to give, but we can hand them off to someone that can help,” she said.
“If they call and say they need food, or diapers, or formula, or help paying the water bill, we can’t give them money but we can refer them to people who can possibly help them get what they need.”
The meeting lasted about three hours Wednesday and Houston said it was very productive and well-attended. The first meeting they had in May under the Fort Madison Coalition brand was attended by four people and the second meeting had six people in person and two online. Wednesday’s meeting was attended by 16.
“This meeting was to get us over the hump,” Houston said. “We needed to get people engaged in order to submit for grant funding. And we have people now from just about all 12 sectors required.”
Those sectors are Youth, Parents, Business, Media, Religion, Schools, Law Enforcement, Health Care, state and local government, substance abuse organizations, volunteer organizations, and youth-serving organizations.
She said the one area of need is youth, but that will be taken care of once school gets back in session this fall. The organization still needs access to more people because they want more than one in each sector.
The biggest area of focus for her would be parents.
“We have to get parents involved. That will be a huge goal of mine to get them engaged and that’s kind of a struggle in Fort Madison from what I’ve been told,” Houston said.
Staffing for the group will be by the paid staff through the Van Buren group, but grant funding would help pay for costs associated with marketing, events, and brand awareness.
Projects could include alcohol-free events in the community, booths at sporting events or other large gathering events.
The board for the group will eventually consist of a president, vice president, and three at-large members. Houston said she wasn’t sure if they were rotating positions or just volunteer-based.
The next meeting of Thrive Fort Madison is set for Aug. 7 at 2 p.m. at the Fort Madison library. Future agenda items include creating a logo and setting up agendas and the board.
Those interested or looking for more information can email Houston at allie.houston@vbcwarriors.org.