New River Housing

18 November 2005

Good Morning,

Mercy! There is a lot to reflect upon this week:

1. The Ethics Training is set for 16 Dec 05 at a cost of $25 for 5 hours & will be held here in Boone. We only have room for 25 people—1st come, 1st served—finding another room may really be necessary. Drop anl email for more information.

1. World AIDS Day is 01 Dec 05 (Thursday this year) & The Mountain AIDS Support Endowment is working with community members in hosting a reception at the Turchin Center . Please join us at 700p for a meet & greet displaying this beautiful 4 panel mural.

1. Blazing Saddles newsletter is almost finished—seems that creating a PDF of a WordPerfect document is not as straightforward & easy as I anticipated. Yet, it won’t be long now.

1. A complaint about a housing complex was passed along to me from some case managers re: discriminatory attitudes of a manager. It was disturbing. I did find someone with the correct contact person should one of the case managers wish to follow through with a formal complaint.


2. Took part in the 1st service definition specific “endorsement” of a provider by the New River provider relations monitoring task force. It went smoothly because the provider had all the appropriate policies handy. What I’ve learned is that a provider is a sub-contractor & ultimately is an “employee”—to use the word loosely—of the state of NC. Provider Relations has the job of checking behind everyone to make sure that the notes & work is correct & quality & does not violate any laws. It is surprising to me the amount of time this team takes to insure consumers receive quality services.


3. Met today with a photography instructor from Appalachian State University who has a class on Documentary Photography & wants his students to get experience while supporting mission-driven organizations. Gives them a taste of a wider world.


4. Of course, most of my time was devoted to Serenity Farm and the drop-in lunch on Tues (22 Nov 05). A small steering committee will entertain community members about the needs of the program. Following that lunch, there will be a workshop session to define the outline of the plan. Getting too tired to write much more. I’ll fill in on the results of the meeting on Tuesday.

8 November 2005

Good Morning,

Just a quick entry to note a few things.

We are planning some trainings. 16 Dec 05 Ethics for Substance Abuse professionals—not its official name of course & it is open to all disciplines. $25 for 5 hours—can’t beat that price on the open market.

Another training (HIV and bloodborne pathogens & TB) is being worked up for later this year—even if it has to be done in-house.

Working out the details of a headache related to Serenity Farm halfway house for addicted men. Web is very slow this afternoon & getting information on the audit requirements of an Oxford House is dragging out—plenty of time to doodle in this journal entry.

It is very clear from the Oxford House materials that trouble is to be expected—financial trouble & using trouble. Every program I’ve run across has to manage its resources well & stay true to its mission to prevent too many problems & to keep those problems small.

Solving this problem will mean finding a sustainable funding stream. There is no more to say.
rmcox