The second in a series by Cliff Lewis

Dave Bender, Executive Director of Compass Mark, is optimistic about the potential for addiction treatment services to improve quality of life in Lancaster County. According to Bender, “a stronger society” can be built by working to inform and empower individuals in their personal choices regarding addiction, rather than merely imposing prohibitive laws.

However, Bender would assert, it is the absence of this approach on the State level that brings about the bulk of Compass Mark’s challenges.

According to Bender,

“Substance abuse has always been treated as a moral issue and as a criminal justice issue, and it’s rarely been looked at as a public health issue….For the most part, the typical elected official—whether you’re talking about the State or Federal level—rarely sees this as a public health issue….”

In the mid-1980s, Compass Mark spoke out against mandatory sentencing for nonviolent drug offenders, Bender said. Such legislation was emblematic of an expensive tendency toward incarceration as a manner of dealing with drug addiction and distribution: “Back then,” Bender noted, “The state prison budget was $250 million a year; now it’s $1.8 billion and growing rapidly.”

From Bender’s perspective, a direct way to abate these swelling prison costs would be for the State to place a definitive cap on such expenditures: “Somebody at the State level has got to have the courage to begin to cap that figure,” which would necessitate progressive investment in reentry, treatment, and harm reduction initiatives—which have all been known to reduce the need for incarceration.

But the failure of State legislators to complete a budget for the current fiscal year has only further compounded the challenges for treatment organizations like Compass Mark. In the absence of funding from both the State and Federal Government (which passes through the State), Compass Mark “could end up closing down in a month,” Bender said. And the work of planning school programs for the coming year has been multiplied by uncertainty of funding: “We have to come up with three plans: One plan for no money, one plan for some money, and one plan for the money that we got last year.”

With Harrisburg stalemated over a $3.2 billion budget gap, and with $1.8 billion State dollars tied up in corrections, Bender cannot help but observe a recurring theme:

“We’re helping the State Budget by reducing recidivism, which means we’re definitely helping that $1.8 billion prison budget from getting bigger….So we’re reducing those numbers, but by cutting us off, and cutting off that prevention that should continue, they’re just going to be looking at a prison budget that’s $2.5 billion to $3 billion ten years from now.”

The Sertoma Club of Lancaster, already famous for hosting the “World’s Largest Chicken Barbeque,” hosted its first Classic Car Show in Long’s Park last Saturday. Billed as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream Car Show,” the event was tinged with a Renaissance theme and drew about 800 cars. According to Jon McDonald, chairman for the event, similar shows that have been established for more than 20 years might only draw as few as 300 cars.

The event was also presented by the Vagabonds Rod and Custom Car Club.

McDonald, who has attended numerous car shows in the past, credits this weekend’s turnout largely to the superior list of amenities that the event offered. Most shows, McDonald noted, are held in church or mall parking lots—not among the natural beauty of a venue like Long’s Park. Also, the event featured three live concerts in the park’s amphitheater, a large selection of food vendors, and valuable door prizes, like a Puerto Rican vacation for two or a $1,200 diamond.

One NewsLanc contributor, who attended the event, described it in glowing terms: “Beautiful weather, lots of good food and an amazing array of cars.”

Throughout this year, the event’s committee has been hard at work to promote the show, McDonald said. The marketing campaign included an informative digital flier that was directed to over 4,000 individual car owners as well as the distribution of over 30,000 fliers at “every car show they could attend.”

Proceeds from the event will be donated to Hospice of Lancaster; Speech and Hearing Impaired Charities; the beautification of Long’s Park; and Kid’s Kamp, a summer program for troubled children conducted by Compass Mark.

From vendor commissions, registration fees, and event sponsors, the Car Show collected $25-30,000 in revenues this year; however, McDonald estimates that, for future shows, when more sponsors become aware of the event, revues will likely reach $60-70,000.

The first in a series by Cliff Lewis

Since its inception (then as the “Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse”) in 1966, Compass Mark has been seeking to work “ahead of the curve” in providing addiction treatment and prevention services in Lancaster County. In the early years, according to Executive Director Dave Bender, this meant setting up Lancaster’s first detox, halfway house, and residential counseling program. Today, Compass Mark has shifted most of its efforts to a prevention and early intervention strategy, focusing on the County’s youth.

In all of Lancaster’s 16 school districts, Compass Mark runs a variety of programs dealing not only with drugs and alcohol, but also engaging troubled students in the ability to solve problems and cope with the difficulties of life. Out of the 4,000 students expected to go through such programs this year, there will be about 600 involved with Compass Mark’s “Skills for Life” program, which is reserved for students with drug and alcohol related problems.

Using alcohol offenses as an example, Bender noted that student recidivism has been reduced from 30% to 3% through “Skills for Life”:

“District judges used to tell us that they would get repeat offenses over and over. Kids would go out, get busted, pay the fine, go out, drink again, get busted, pay the fine….One judge said that there was a kid who came back before him 13 times. He said that now, since referring [offenders] to our program, it’s rare that he gets a second offense, and he can’t even remember getting a third offense.”

Students are referred to the program by either a district judge or school personnel, usually in response to a substance related violation. “Skills for Life” requires that each student attend a weekly group meeting for about one month.

The groups are led by recovering addicts who often surprise the students attending with their level of respect and empathy. The central goal of these groups is to facilitate genuine discussion among the attendees about the personal challenges and choices that they each face: “It’s basically kids holding up mirrors to each other,” Bender said.

Often times, the meetings may not directly touch on the topic of drugs and alcohol at all: “We don’t talk so much about the substance,” Bender said, “What we’ll talk about is building decision-making skills, coping skills, stress-management skills, problem-solving skills. We’re helping kids and adults function with life, and be able to make reasonable, rational choices with what they decide to put into their bodies.”

Personal choice is a cornerstone to Compass Mark’s approach. To demonstrate this value, Bender mentioned the topic of random student drug testing: “People are usually surprised to hear that—for the most part—we are not in favor of random drug testing in schools….It’s taking the responsibility away from kids to develop the skills to help each other make choices, and it’s taking the power away from the individual to make choices.”

Out of each 12 student group, Bender estimates that two students are typically considered for additional in-patient or out-patient rehab treatment.

The purpose of “Skills for Life” is not necessarily to eradicate all presence of drugs or alcohol from the lives of these students. Bender emphasized that this program exists to help students learn to make responsible choices and reduce the harmful effects of these substances where necessary. This approach, according to Bender, falls directly in line with the organization’s mission to provide those in need with a “Compass” to help them locate the next step in improving their quality of life.

The second in a series by Cliff Lewis

As mentioned in the previous installment of this series, Eastern Market draws a quarter of its business from the surrounding neighborhood. According to Smith, this relationship with the East—and specifically Southeast—sections of Lancaster City lies at the heart of the Market’s very existence. Increasing neighborhood involvement is Eastern Market’s top priority: “I think, generally, it’s a neighborhood that doesn’t necessarily shop at Central Market, so there’s potential for us to tap into an entirely different population,” Smith said.

For Smith, one expression of this priority has been to make that community his home. He has lived on the East end for two years, having previously resided in the city’s Northwest. Smith is quick to dismiss common stereotypes and fears surrounding the neighborhood, emphasizing its unique cultural characteristics: “There are people out on the street here at night. I personally really like that; there’s a culture of being in the neighborhood here.”

Eastern Market is committed to infusing this neighborhood with healthy food options as well as an environmentally sustainable, internally supported economy.

“We’re really focused on providing cheap, healthy foods here,” Smith said. Not only does Eastern Market carry a broad selection of fresh produce, but most of that selection also happens to be grown organically and free of chemical pesticides. “By precedent,” Smith said, Eastern Market carries mostly organic foods. “This year, all of our farmers have been ‘organic.’” By, “organic,” however, Smith does not mean that these stands are officially USDA Certified Organic. Due to the high overhead cost of such certification, these stands instead offer a good faith assurance that their produce is grown through natural, traditional methods.

Read the rest of this entry »

The first in a series by Cliff Lewis

As Lancaster’s Buy Fresh Buy Local® program encourages the community to take their “21 Day Challenge” of buying local produce, NewsLanc will be spotlighting the Historic Eastern Market. In an interview with market manager Doug Smith, it became clear that Eastern Market plays a much broader role in the surrounding community than one might expect from the typical farmers’ market.

Strolling East from Central Market, one will observe the towering Marriott Hotel on the right, followed by the courthouse on the left, and, a little further, the Demuth Tobacco Shop on the right. Many would assume this end of all “viable” destinations East of Penn Square. But, since 2006, the Historic Eastern Market at 308 East King Street has been working to prove that assumption wrong.

According to manager Doug Smith, the space at 308 E King was used as a farmers market from 1883-1927. Then, for almost 80 years, this facility was passed through a variety uses—a car dealership, a boat showroom, and more. In 2005, the Historic Market space was purchased by Tabor Community Services, which now uses much of the facility to house their offices.

Then, in 2006, the East King Street Improvement District, a neighborhood revitalization effort headed by Tabor, initiated the rebirth of Historic Eastern Market. In this regard, the Market itself stands on the front line of efforts to improve quality of life in the Eastern and Southeastern sections of Lancaster City. This is why Smith calls it a “mission-driven market:“

“Eastern Market was started for a couple reasons. One was to provide community space for this side of town, where people could come and be in a friendly environment….Another reason was in response to a food study that was done, which identified the southeast side to be an area of poor food access. That’s when we started inviting farmers to set up here and revive the historic market.”

Now in its fourth season, Eastern Market has expanded its vendor line-up to as many as 20 stands—all of them featuring fresh local produce and diverse prepared foods. The Market, open on Saturday mornings and Wednesday evenings, has already carved itself a unique niche by frequently showcasing local artists and musicians, and by integrating members of the diverse local community. According to Smith, about 50% of Eastern Market’s city customers come from its own surrounding neighborhood.

By Cliff Lewis

According to Melinda Zipp, Director of Project Hope (a division of the Lancaster Urban League), there are about 2,500 people living in Lancaster County who are infected with HIV/AIDS. And as much as 25% of these people do not even know it. This virus, life-altering at best and deadly at worst, can creep quietly through a population, often under the cover of secrecy and shame. So what does Lancaster County need to take on such an elusive threat to public health?

Since the early nineties, Project Hope’s answer to this question has been twofold: Prevention and education. To prevent the spread of AIDS from those infected, the organization has provided free tests to County prisoners, residents of the Youth Intervention Center, and walk-ins at the Urban League’s South Duke Street headquarters. In 2008, Project Hope provided over 350 tests. Also to reduce AIDS contraction, Project Hope provides a variety of free contraceptives and offers presentations to educate the public on effective measures of prevention.

One fact that Zipp has learned about the presence of AIDS in Lancaster is it is not merely relegated to the city limits. Although, Zipp would be quick to qualify that the South East section of Lancaster City is “ground zero” for the spread of AIDS in Lancaster County: “I could take a walk and probably see at least five to ten of my clients….So, I would say, in this area of the city, with the drug use and the prostitution, [the rate of infection] is very high.” But, even if the virus is concentrated in this particular area, it can easily ripple outward. A frequent pattern, according to Zipp, is that many young women from outside of the city will commute into the South East section to “prostitute, get their drugs, and go home.”

In Zipp’s experience with providing tests, she has seen about 25% of her clients coming from places like York, Lebanon, and New Holland. Many of these individuals are men who want to avoid exposure in their surrounding community.

Although Project Hope has worked effectively through the decades, the organization will soon be adjusting its efforts in response to rising challenges and shifting public needs. To best serve the population, Project Hope has to avoid overlapping its efforts with similar organizations in the County (SACA’s Nuestra Clinica offers HIV and STD testing to the Latino community, and the AIDS Community Alliance provides case management services for those infected).

Also, funding challenges have risen as more conditions have been added to the granting of State dollars. For example, Project Hope now must demonstrate a 1% HIV/AIDS positivity rate in their testing program to maintain a State grant.

Project Hope’s long-term solution to these challenges is to re-focus its scope of services. In the coming months and years, Zipp said, the organization will be working to expand its “evidence based intervention” services for injection drug users. Zipp describes this “harm reduction” approach as follows: “It’s not about forcing them into rehab; it’s about them picking a goal…and helping them meet one initial goal and then choose another goal and take steps toward that. It’s about helping them get the process down to change their behavior, step by step.” And to further refine its testing program, Project Hope will begin to promote its testing services among targeted high-risk groups—especially the local population of “men who sleep with men,” or “MSM” as Zipp refers to it.

In the early nineties, the AIDS crisis had ballooned to its most deadly presence in Pennsylvania, claiming the lives of 1,851 residents and sparking the formation of groups like Project Hope. Today, with as little as 50 annual AIDS deaths in PA, the crisis has diminished—but not disappeared. And Project Hope is positioned to fight the spread of spread of AIDS and to help those affected, no matter what form the crisis takes.

The second of two in a series by Cliff Lewis on the Lancaster County Council of Churches

Just as the Council of Churches’ (CoC) North Marshall Street exterior does not let on the full scope of services that are housed within, the entire headquarters itself is only one portion of the services that the CoC extends throughout Lancaster County. An interview with Executive Director Scott Fischer revealed a broadly spanning effort to address social needs within the city and beyond.

Fischer explained that the CoC was formed in 1947 as a way to unite the like-minded efforts of many churches throughout the county: “Church leaders wanted to work together cooperatively in different areas, and over the years, that cooperative work has produced a lot of community resources.” The organization has always synched its efforts to community’s needs at a given time. For example, through the ‘60s and ‘70s, the CoC was actively involved in serving a then-considerable migrant worker population.

In its early years, CoC funding was drawn 80-95% from participating congregations. Today, member-church donations account for 60% of the CoC budget. The churches themselves have not been giving less money, Fischer noted; but the CoC’s endeavors have continually expanded, requiring new approaches to partnership and funding. More individuals and businesses are supporting the organization than at any time in the past.

Read the rest of this entry »

The first of two in a series by Cliff Lewis on the Lancaster County Council of Churches

At 344 N Marshall St, the Council of Churches (CoC) headquarters rests behind a thrifty edifice: The simple white building is fronted with a modest parking lot and is adorned with little more than a few signs to identify the organization. But within those walls there runs an intricately patterned network of community services, each carefully modified over time to provide the highest quality care to the greatest number of people.

The CoC was initially formed under a different name in 1947 to increase unity and cooperation among the many churches and denominations resident in Lancaster County. The partnership has since expanded into an extensive system of community services supported by well over 100 local congregations.

Recently, Assistant Director Lindsey Hess offered NewsLanc a tour of the Marshall St center, from which a variety of community services are provided in a time-tested, well-organized manner.

A few doors beyond the front lobby lies the CoC’s food bank—what Hess describes as, “by far, the biggest” program run through the facility. The bank provides the usual dry and canned goods, as well as refrigerated items such as meat, eggs, and butter. The program has recently been reconstructed to a “client choice” model, in which food recipients are allowed to hand-select their groceries to best fit the needs and preferences of their families.

For this process, the bank is arranged like a scaled-down supermarket. Food is organized into three long aisles, sectioned out according to various meal categories. Staff or volunteers guide clients through the selection process, which typically ends with a cart full of free groceries. By closely engaging with clients, the CoC is able to continually refine their donation requests to better align with user preferences. Most of these donations come from participating churches and some individuals.

Read the rest of this entry »

A previous NewsLanc interview revealed that effective Suboxone (a.k.a. buprenorphine) treatment for Lancaster’s heroin addicts is largely impeded by a lack of doctors interested in obtaining certification to prescribe this medication. The reason for this reluctance is that, in the words of a local expert, “A lot of physicians really don’t want to … have a caseload of heroin addicts.” To change this pattern of under-treatment, one area organization has set out to make the doctor’s role as simple as possible by independently coordinating the elements of care involved with Suboxone treatment.

The RASE (”Recovery, Advocacy, Service and Empowerment”) Project was conceived in 2002 when Lewistown Hospital created a program to prescribe Suboxone as part of it family practice. It became apparent that there was a need for an agency to assist with the administration of a holistic program to provide for the various supports helpful in bringing about recovery.

By 2007, RASE  was all too familiar with the crisis facing Suboxone treatment in Central Pennsylvania. Here is how the RASE website describes the dilemma:

While accessing buprenorphine can be accomplished in the privacy of a physician’s office, there is a responsibility to the patient for referral to appropriate outpatient drug counseling and ongoing referrals to other necessary services that creates a burden on the prescribing physicians. This burden is directly affecting system capacity and physicians are reluctant to take on more buprenorphine patients.

In 2007, the Health Choices Initiative in Dauphin, Cumberland/Perry, Lancaster, and Lebanon counties recruited RASE to create a buprenorphine coordinator program for the five-county area. Assistant Director Dona Dmitrovic described the program as “coordination of care”—an effort to streamline all of the channels of service that Suboxone treatment entails. Dmitrovic explained the process:

“A person will call, say, Center City [Clinic] down in Lancaster and say, ‘I want to get in the Suboxone clinic.’ [The clinic] will say, ‘Okay, you need to call the RASE Project.’ They’ll call the RASE Project, our coordinator will take all of the information, we’ll fill out all of the paperwork, we make the doctor’s appointment, we meet them at the first doctor’s appointment, and then we make an appointment for them to go to outpatient counseling.”

Through this program, RASE now serves a monthly average of 175-200 patients, and a yearly average of 350.

RASE can also work with patients to obtain to housing, medical, or transportation assistance, when necessary. The ultimate goal of RASE’s buprenorphine coordinator program is to improve the caliber of service provided to local addicts and to increase the number of doctors that are willing to provide it. After two years of running the program, Dmitrovic said, “I think we’ve gotten some doctors on board that, in the past, would not have done this without the help of our program.”

The buprenorphine program, which runs both in Harrisburg and Lancaster (LGH Wellness Center, 2100 Harrisburg Pike), finds most of its clients in Lancaster County. According to Dmitrovic, future plans may include shifting more operations to the Lancaster area to better serve in the population of highest need. And, ideally, Dmitrovic hopes to see a service created in Lancaster where all of the elements of buprenorphine treatment are unified in a central location: “We would love to do a one-stop shop kind of thing where people can come and get all of their needs met.”

A working relationship is already being discussed between Lancaster General Hospital and RASE.

For more information about the RASE Project and its buprenorphine coordinator program, click here.

By Cliff Lewis

On Thursday evening, May 22, the Spanish American Civic Association (SACA) hosted its 28th annual fiesta at the Centro Hispano building on Pershing Avenue in the Southeast section of Lancaster City. The fundraising event was attended by hundreds of guests, and bounced with a bright tone of celebration—for the Hispanic and Latino community in Lancaster and for the work done by SACA to strengthen that community.

The centerpiece of activity was, undeniably, the food. Four long tables were decked with a colorful spread of foods from various Hispanic and Latino traditions—Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Peruvian, Ecuadorian, and Dominican. One table was lined with sweet slices of flan. Near the entrance, several volunteers cracked open coconuts for guests to sip from a straw.

The rhythms of Latino music pulsed from speakers in the main atrium, where the Herencia Latina Dance Group entertained the crowd with their quickly sweeping steps. And, from this swirl of musical activity, the occasional conga line would spontaneously assemble. (How could anyone resist?)

The event—attended by local politicians including State Representative Mike Sturla, County Commissioner Craig Lehman, and Mayor Rick Gray among others—was more than just a party. It was an opportunity for SACA to promote its current plan for empowering the Latino workforce in Lancaster County. Upon entrance, all guests were provided with a booklet that featured a piece called “A Proposed Investment in the Latino Workforce.” The essay begins by quoting a recent report from the National Council of La Raza:

Even before the economic recession began in 2008, Latinos faced significant disadvantages in the labor market. Despite having the highest workforce participation rate (68%, comparted to 65.6% for all adults), Latinos earn the lowest median wages and have the lowest rates of employer-sponsored health and retirement plan coverage of any group.

The essay goes on to announce the May 2009 opening of the “Pl@za Comunitaria,” a center for Spanish-speaking locals to “upgrade their adult basic education levels [and] access a wide range of services that include workforce readiness, GED Preparation, English as a Second Language, Adult Basic Education, and Job Placement Services.” The center will join Belco Credit Union and Myers Insurance Company in the SACA-developed office building at 452 S Duke St.

The booklet also proposed a plan to partner with the Lancaster Career and Technology Center and other community stakeholders to create a “Technology Center in the southeast quadrant of the city of Lancaster” within the next two years. The center would be used to provide bilingual workforce training opportunities and would also offer a connection to nearby colleges and technical schools.

For more information about SACA, read NewsLanc’s community service profile or visit the SACA homepage.