OBT has been awarded $50,000. What does this mean for Manchester?
by Sara Swanson
Washtenaw County Community Mental Health announced last month that in February the Community Mental Health millage advisory committee approved a one-year pilot grant for 5 Healthy Towns Foundation (5HF). 5HF will use the $50,000 grant to help fund the One Big Thing (OBT) initiative, including planning of community events and paying for the hiring of a part-time community action team facilitator. Manchester is one of five communities the foundation serves, in addition to Chelsea, Dexter, Grass Lake, and Stockbridge. What does this grant mean for Manchester?
OBT came about back in 2019 when 5HF partnered with three organizations — Washtenaw County Community Mental Health, Chelsea Hospital, and Michigan Medicine Department of Family Medicine — to launch this joint initiative. The project was intended to foster collaboration between the four organizations in support of “one big thing” to focus on improving the mental health and well-being across the five communities, and preventing mental health crises and substance dependence.
This summer, 5HF hired an OBT action team facilitator, Kimberly Gillow, with millage funds. She began work in July. Before coming to OBT, Gillow worked as a public school educator in the region for 27 years in the roles of a speech-language pathologist, a teacher, a literacy interventionist, an instructional coach, and an administrator.
OBT serves the five communities but it also requires input and work from them. One avenue of input is OBT Community Meetings. To further community involvement in OBT, 5HF has been holding bi-monthly community meetings where anyone can provide input on the initiatives. The next community meeting is being planned for Tuesday, October 3, 2023, at Silver Maples in Chelsea.
Gillow stated that representatives from Manchester Community Schools, SRSLY Manchester, Manchester District Library, the Manchester Wellness Coalition, and the Manchester Community Resource Center have been part of One Big Thing Community Meetings in the past.
In addition to the community meetings, in 2022 OBT created action teams to focus on priority community needs. Three action teams were identified. Team #1, the Social Isolation and Sense of Purpose team, aims to expand discussions with at-risk populations through teen-only events, parent role modeling, and multigenerational programming. Team #2, the Social Determinants of Health and Barriers to Resources team, aims to address social needs that result in poor mental health. Possible activities will include expanding transportation in rural areas and improving access to healthy food across the region, among others. Team #3, the Alcohol and Other Drugs team, aims to reduce alcohol and other substance use in the community by promoting alcohol-free events, a dry January campaign, and discussions surrounding opioids and harm reduction strategies.
Gillow states that there are representatives from Manchester serving on the action teams as well. She explained that all three action teams are currently working on promoting One Big Connection, a website designed as part of the OBT initiative to help community members within the 5 Healthy Towns region find local resources.
Carol Wotring, Executive Director of Manchester’s Community Resource Center (CRC), serves on team #2, the Barriers to Resources Team. She stated, “We have been meeting about once per month since March 2023. We are currently working to strengthen the mental health and well-being section on the One Big Connection website then will spread the word that it is there and how to use it. Of course, CRC will be involved in the promotion of this resource when it happens. There are also plans to make sure the One Big Connection website is available in multiple domains, including a hard-copy resource book.”
Wotring added, “The website is pretty cool with lots of information. I particularly like the events section, to see what is going on around the five healthy towns. At CRC, we have the One Big Connection flyers in the office. We have also promoted the periodic surveys that 5HF administers. These surveys take a snapshot of our community wellness over time.”
OBT will also be coming to Manchester in October as part of Action Team #3’s “Rock the Mock” campaign. Gillow explained, “As part of the campaign, team members will be visiting bars and restaurants in Manchester (and each of the other four towns) to invite them to commit to offering mocktails and/or nonalcoholic beer to support residents who choose not to drink alcohol.”
Gillow added that Action Team #1 is exploring ways to connect volunteers with volunteer opportunities to support those who feel socially isolated and/or lack a sense of belonging and connection. They are also hoping to invite Manchester Community Schools staff members, as well as members of staff from each of the five school districts, to be part of a discussion about the mental health and emotional well-being needs of our school-age population and their families.
Lori Kintz, public relations coordinator for 5HF stated in a press release about the grant, “We don’t want to just communicate with the other resources in the region. We don’t want to just coordinate and collaborate — we truly want to integrate our services and move upstream so we can prevent mental health crises.”
Although their plans are just starting, OBT has significant mid-term objectives that they hope to achieve by 2026, including: decreasing the number of students classified as homeless or housing unstable by the five school districts; decreasing the percentage of patients in the region who report experiencing social isolation, food insecurity, transportation barriers, or housing instability in the past month; and decreasing the percentage of adults who report they lack community connections. Their listed long-term goals they hope to achieve by 2028 include reducing suicide ideation among high school students; reducing fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses among adults; and increasing the percentage of adults who rate their overall life satisfaction as “very good” or “excellent.”
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