2021 Annual Report

HEALTH

With a fatal overdose happening once in every six days in Sullivan County, the need for community education and prevention efforts is important now more than ever.  To offer hope and to diminish the stigma related to substance use disorders, AveNew, a UWGK initiative, executed an awareness campaign that included billboards and social media outreach as well as hosting the first Kingsport/Sullivan County International Overdose Awareness Day Event around the theme of “Recovery is Possible”.  The campaign also included youth prevention ads designed by local high school students from the Cora Cox Academy and the Y.E.L.L. Mayor’s Youth Council.

AveNew also provided funds to the Sullivan County Anti-Drug Coalition to purchase 400 doses of Narcan, the overdose reversal drug, and to print 1,000 additional copies of the Family Resource Guide to distribute throughout Sullivan County to families and service providers. In an effort to provide students with an evidence-based prevention program, AveNew partnered with the Boys & Girls Club of Kingsport to offer their S.M.A.R.T. (Skills Mastery and Resilience Training)  Moves Prevention curriculum to the summer and after-school students at Girls Inc and the YMCA in a one-of-its-kind partnership. 

One of the results of the opioid epidemic is broken or separated families where individuals are raising relative family member’s children.  In Sullivan County alone, there were over 2,000 grandparents raising their grandchildren in 2020 - and that doesn’t include other relative caregivers such as aunts and uncles.  To help provide encouragement and resources, the GRANDfamilies Network developed monthly virtual seminars including the following topics: Custody Options, Interacting with the School System, Youth Mental Health, Dangers of the Digital World, and Self-Care Tips. All seminars and additional resources can be found on the GRANDfamilies Page. 

ENSURING HEALTH, SAFETY, AND STABILITY

American Red Cross of Northeast Tennessee – Disaster Response Program ($78,522) serves people affected by disaster and continually strengthens its own capacity and the capacity of communities for disaster, response and recovery.

American Red Cross of Northeast Tennessee – Community Resilience Program ($55,500) helps people prevent, prepare for, or respond to emergencies to achieve a positive health outcome, ultimately helping to create a more resilient community.

Bloomingdale Volunteer Fire Department – Medical First Responder Program ($18,061) provides emergency medical services as licensed First Responders per guidelines set forth by the State of Tennessee & Sullivan County EMS.

CASA for Kids, Inc. – Core Program ($46,000) supports and promotes professionally-trained community volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children’s best interest within the Juvenile Court and ensure safe and stable placements.

Children’s Advocacy Center of Sullivan County – Counseling Program ($31,287) provides trauma-focused treatment to the child victims of sexual abuse and severe physical abuse in a child-friendly environment that focuses on the well-being of the child.

Children’s Advocacy Center of Sullivan County – Victim Services Program ($9,561) provides counseling and assistance to the non-offending parents or caregivers of victims.

Contact 211 of Northeast Tennessee, Inc.– Information & Referral Program ($40,237) administers a telephone helpline staffed by trained volunteers who provide information and referral, a listening ear to distressed callers, crisis intervention, and daily reassurance calls in the 8-county service area.

Friends in Need Health Center– Appalachian Miles for Smiles Mobile Dental Unit ($24,000) provides quality dental care and eye examinations at no cost to uninsured residents of East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.

Friends in Need Health Center – Dental Services Program ($62,000) provides affordable dental care to the working uninsured of the Greater Kingsport area.

Friends in Need Health Center – Medical Services Program ($23,620) provides affordable medical care to the working uninsured or underinsured of the Greater Kingsport area.

Holston Counseling (Frontier Health) – Substance Abuse Counseling Program ($48,892) provides services to individuals who are experiencing interpersonal, family, employment, or legal difficulties due to substance abuse or dependence.

Holston Counseling (Frontier Health) – Crisis Assessment Program ($14,000) Mobile Crisis Response Team provides 24-hour crisis intervention counseling and referral services for persons experiencing a psychiatric crisis or co-occurring disorders.

Kingsport Lifesaving Crew – Emergency Medical, Rescue and Extrication Program ($23,620) provides emergency first responder and specialty extrication services to accident and trauma victims in the Greater Kingsport area.

Legal Aid of East Tennessee – Domestic Violence Legal Assistance Program ($16,762) provides family safety and stability for victims of domestic violence through court orders granting a divorce or order of protection.

Link House (Frontier Health) – Core Program ($38,847) provides food, shelter, crisis intervention, diagnostic and evaluation services as well as counseling to adolescent females who are neglected, abused, runaway, unruly, or delinquent.

Mountain Region Speech & Hearing Center – Speech-Language Scholarship Program ($63,000) provides infants, children and adults with highest quality and cost effective evaluation, treatment and education for speech, language and swallowing disorders regardless of their ability to pay.

SAFE House (Frontier Health) – Domestic Violence Shelter Program ($54,000) provides a safe, confidential, and temporary shelter for victims of domestic violence and their dependent children. 24/7 services may include crisis services, transportation, advocacy, follow-up and community education.

Salvation Army – Social Services Program ($74,758) provides basic human needs--clothing, food, rent, mortgage, utilities, and medicine--without discrimination.

Salvation Army – Emergency Shelter Program ($37,835) provides lodging, meals, personal hygiene items, clothing, counseling, job placement, financial planning, and survival skills to assist individuals/ families in becoming self-sufficient.

SUPPORTING AGING WITH CHOICES

First Tennessee Human Resource Agency – Personal Support Services Program ($19,234) promotes self-sufficiency and prevents institutional placement by providing cost-effective in-home care for individuals in threat of harm due to abuse or neglect.

Meals on Wheels of Kingsport – Core Program ($111,064) provides hot, nutritious meals and human contact to isolated, incapacitated senior citizens and, if appropriate, other home-bound, disabled persons to facilitate safe, independent living.

HELPING CHILDREN AND YOUTH SUCCEED

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Tri-Cities – Community-Based & Site-Based Mentoring Program ($76,000) matches caring, consistent adult volunteers with children in our community who need a friend and mentor.

Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kingsport – Formula for Impact ($161,062) this is a combined program that provides a safe environment helping teens realize their fullest potential by providing quality programs that enhance health, social, and educational development. Also helps children realize their fullest potential by providing childcare programs that enhance their health, social, and educational development.

Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians, Inc. – Leadership Experience Program ($17,000) provides a comprehensive leadership development program that positively impacts girls grades K-12 by building skills that lead to future success.

Girls Inc. of Kingsport – Core Program ($185,000) provides facility-based and off-site outreach programs both after-school, after hours, and during the summer for girls ages 4-19 that enhance their educational, occupational and physical development.

Holston Children & Youth Services (Frontier Health)  – School-Based Prevention Program ($33,100) provides clinical services for at-risk students with academic, social, and/or behavioral problems; helps schools maintain safe, disciplined learning environments; and provides consultation for teachers and collaboration with counselors.

Holston Children & Youth Services (Frontier Health) – School Based Prevention Program ($33,100) provides clinical services for at-risk students with academic, social, and/or behavioral problems; helps schools maintain safe, disciplined learning environments; and provides consultation for teachers and collaboration with counselors.

Kingsport Child Development Center – Sliding Fee Scale/Income-Based Childcare Program ($116,468) provides quality childcare/preschool services implementing developmentally-appropriate programs meeting the social, emotional, and educational needs of all children served at affordable rates for parents/guardians.

Sequoyah Council, Boy Scouts of America – Youth Development Program ($15,000) teaches participants life-long skills and values. They acquire the skills they need to make the right choices, meet challenges and overcome them. Youth learn today what will sustain them tomorrow.

Small Miracles Therapeutic Equestrian Center, Inc. – Equine-Assisted Activities & Therapies Program ($18,000) enhances the physical, emotional, social, cognitive and behavioral growth of individuals with special needs and disabilities through both mounted and unmounted equine-assisted activities and therapies.

Small Miracles Therapeutic Equestrian Center, Inc. – Equine-Assisted Positive Youth Development Program ($14,000) enhances the fundamental life skills and personal development of children and youth by providing prosocial, leadership and work/college-readiness skills through the utilization of equine-assisted experiential learning activities.

Sullivan County Imagination Library – Sullivan County Imagination Library Program ($20,000) promotes early childhood reading through monthly mailings of free, age-appropriate books to registered children in our county who are between birth and age five.

PROMOTING SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Frontier Industries (Frontier Health) – Day Services Program ($44,312) offers pre-vocational, employment, residential, and community integration services to individuals who have intellectual, developmental, emotional and/or physical disabilities.

Hope Haven Ministries – Work Program ($27,300) provides emergency shelter and assistance to individuals so they may obtain gainful employment, build self- sufficiency and break the cycle of homelessness.

Hope House – Fresh Start Program ($19,369) offers support services for pregnant women, new parents, and extended family members who are in crisis concerning pregnancy, parenting, and providing basic needs for themselves and their young children.

Family Promise of Greater Kingsport – Family Self-Sufficiency Program ($18,300) enhances the lives of homeless in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia by providing families with children temporary shelter and assistance so they may become self-sufficient.

Literacy Council of Kingsport – Tutoring Program for Adults ($29,289) helps adults improve their literacy skills and assists students in learning to speak and read English through one-on-one tutoring with trained volunteers.

Small Miracles Therapeutic Equestrian Center, Inc. – Horses Empower Heroes Program ($8,976) promotes the recovery, stability and self-sufficiency of veterans by assisting with the transition from mere survival-mode into resiliency and hope through trauma-focused, relationship-rich, equine-assisted activities and therapies (EAAT).