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eNewsletter - February 9, 2012
Join Us in Making Recovery Voices Count in 2012!
Addiction recovery is more than "just not using." As active citizens, we connect or reconnect with our communities. In our active addiction, many of us neglected our responsibilities, including participating in community life. At Faces & Voices of Recovery we are working to organize and mobilize the recovery community because by our silence we let others define us. We must hold elected officials and policy makers accountable, by informing them about the laws, rules and regulations that will benefit recovery and asking them to take a position on the issues that we care about.
With the 2012 national elections approaching, recovery community organizations are getting ready to conduct voter registration and Get-Out-The-Vote activities, sponsoring candidate forums and getting candidates for political office on record about critical policies that will make recovery a reality for even more Americans. They are making RECOVERY VOICES COUNT as part of our 2012 Non-Partisan Civic Engagement campaign.
Use our new Guide and tools, including Questions for Candidates to educate candidates for public office about key issues and turn out voters in growing numbers so that we can have an even greater impact on the lives of people who still need help to recover and our communities.
Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center (BRSS TACS)
BRSS TACS is a new Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) initiative that you can find out more about by listening to an introductory webinar, reading a transcript or viewing webinar slides. To join an email list for BRSS TACS updates, email BRSSTACS@center4si.com.
Applications for the BRSS TACS State Peer Awards for Health Care Reform Education to enable peer-run and recovery community organizations in States are now being accepted. The awards will be for outreach and dissemination efforts to educate people in recovery from mental and/or substance use disorders and service providers about health care reforms initiated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010. Click here for information about the awards. Applications are due by February 24, 2012.
Drug Testing for Public Benefits
Growing numbers of state legislatures and the US Congress are considering proposals to require drug tests for unemployment and public benefits. Faces & Voices of Recovery opposes drug testing requirements for public benefits because these proposed policies are misguided, ineffective and waste precious taxpayer resources. See our statement here.
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) of the US Department of Health and Human Services released an Issue Brief examining recent State and federal legislative proposals to require drug tests as a condition of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program eligibility. The brief describes potential uses and limitations of drug tests in the context of welfare programs. During 2010 and the first half of 2011, 82 bills on this subject were proposed in 31 State legislatures and the U.S. Congress.
SAMHSA Budget Briefing
Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Administrator Pam Hyde will hold a briefing on the President's budget proposal for the agency on February 14, 2012 from 2:30 - 4:30 pm in Washington, DC. To participate online go here.
Action on Addiction and the Duchess of Cambridge
The Duchess of Cambridge has selected Action on Addiction as one of the four charities that she has become the patron of. She recently visited The Brink - an alcohol-free bar that is a social enterprise run primarily by people in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs to provide work experience. All profits are reinvested in the organization's recovery projects.
Portland, ME Recovery Community Center opens
Congratulations! The Maine Alliance for Addiction Recovery announced the opening of the Portland Recovery Community Center. There are over 24 recovery community centers in New England alone. The Center stands as a safe haven for people from every addiction recovery pathway and for our recovery allies. The Center supports those who are recovering from alcohol and drug related problems, from every recovery pathway; and family members and friends of people struggling with addiction.
Honoring Children of Alcoholics Week
The National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACoA) is sponsoring the 2012 Children of Alcoholics Week, observed from February 12 - 18th. Children of Alcoholics Week celebrates the recovery of the many thousands of children of all ages who have received the help they needed to recover from the pain and losses suffered in their childhood. To find out more about Children of Alcoholics Week and how you can participate, visit NACoA.
Resources
Number of Drug Poisoning Deaths Now Rival Motor Vehicle Traffic Deaths is a report from the Center for Substance Abuse Research on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that finds that nearly as many people die each year from drug poisoning as from motor vehicle accidents.
Attributes of a Health Literate Organization, by Cindy Brach, Benard Dreyer, Paul Schyve, Lyla M. Hernandez, Cynthia Baur, Andrew J. Lemerise, and Ruth Parker is an easy-to-use resource for thinking about how service providers can make it easier for people to navigate, understand, and use information and services to take care of their health.
New Federal Policy Initiatives To Boost Health Literacy Can Help The Nation Move Beyond The Cycle Of Costly 'Crisis Care' by Howard Koh, Donald M. Berwick, Carolyn M. Clancy, Cynthia Baur, Cindy Brach, Linda M. Harris and Eileen G. Zerhusen describes federal policy initiatives to help Americans become more "health literate."
The Consumer Voices for Coverage: Advocacy Evaluation Toolkit was developed by Mathematica to strengthen the ability of Consumer Voices for Coverage grantees to evaluate their own organizations and advocacy efforts in the future. The Toolkit is designed for people and groups who might not be familiar with evaluation procedures and methods and includes useful evaluation tools and instruments.
Support Faces & Voices of Recovery today!