Greene County has some of the highest rates of heroin and opioid-related emergency room visits, overdoses, and deaths in New York State. Because of this, school districts and service providers see the need for ongoing prevention efforts. In 2018, the Dyson Foundation awarded a grant to Twin County to allow its staff to deliver prevention programming in both school- and community-based settings.
Dyson Foundation funding primarily supports Twin County’s work in the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District, where staff provide evidence-based drug and violence prevention curricula to K-8th graders during the school day and after-school throughout the academic year, in addition to other community-based activities. These include providing parenting support programs as well as community outreach at numerous events, festivals, and other public gatherings.
Twin County Recovery Services provides a range of addiction prevention, intervention, and treatment services in Columbia and Greene counties to alleviate the destructive effects of chemical dependency. Its largest programs are two medically-supervised outpatient clinics located in Hudson and Catskill that serve nearly 900 people annually. It also maintains two transitional living homes for individuals in recovery, making it a key service provider in Columbia and Greene counties.
This grant falls within the Dyson Foundation’s Safety Net theme.