Our Mission and History
Our Mission
The Norwalk Partnership brings community members and organizations together to prevent substance misuse and promote mental wellness among Norwalk youth and young adults.
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In so doing, we contribute to our vision of Norwalk as a community that fosters wellbeing and supports safe and healthy behaviors across the lifespan.
History & Funding
During late summer of 2020, The Norwalk Partnership was created by uniting two previous prevention groups: the Community Prevention Task Force, managed by the Human Services Council (HSC), and the Partnership, managed by Positive Directions – The Center for Prevention and Counseling. TNP was launched with the first coalition meeting in September 2020.
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In merging these efforts, Positive Directions and HSC recognized that prevention work can best be done together. Both agencies continue to serve as fiduciaries for this work:
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Positive Directions administers the federal Drug-Free Communities (DFC) grant ($125,000/year for 5 years) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
HSC receives a community grant from the City of Norwalk (~$16,000/year) along with Local Prevention Council (LPC) funding ($8,973/year, annually) from the CT Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services via The Hub. HSC also receives State Opioid Response (SOR) mini-grants when available ($5000).
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Both agencies provide staff time to support the prevention work of the coalition.
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Funding supports the following:
The DFC grant supports coalition building, data collection to identify priorities and assess progress, and strategies to address alcohol & marijuana use.
The LPC grant supports coalition building and focuses on vaping.
The SOR mini-grants focus on opioid education and distribution of Naloxone (aka Narcan), the overdose antidote.
As of Fall 2020, our plans include:
ALCOHOL: Addressing underage alcohol consumption at home through raising the visibility of the Social Host Law & collaborating with alcohol retailers on campaigns such as #mentionprevention and Liquor Stickers.
MARIJUANA: Increasing awareness of the risks of today's marijuana among youth and parents through education, including work with elected officials.
VAPING: Addressing access to vaping by targeting chain stores to stop selling and providing vaping prevention & cessation resources to youth, parents & schools.
ACCESS TO ALCOHOL & RX DRUGS: Raising families' awareness about locking up their liquor and medicine cabinets and safe disposal of unused medication, including distributing locks, Deterra bags, and Narcan.
MENTAL HEALTH: Supporting social-emotional wellbeing and mental health initiatives through community education, support options such as our Norwalk SMART Recovery teen group and TurningPointCT.org, curriculum for health teachers, and collaborations with community partners.
SUICIDE: Providing suicide prevention education & awareness and co-leading Norwalk's suicide postvention response planning workgroup.
PARENT/YOUTH EDUCATION: We will be convening community partners to organize Norwalk's first Freshman Forum, a joint parent-teen awareness program.