Reducing Stigmas During Recovery from Drug Problems

Ed. Note: Champions of Change is a weekly initiative to highlight Americans who are making an impact in their communities and helping our country rise to meet the many challenges of the 21st century.

Almost every family in America is touched by an often fatal malady – one that is sometimes denied, often ignored or covered up, and one that is completely treatable. People with alcohol or drug problems are found in every stratum of society and in every town and city.  They are often misunderstood and often blamed for their disease, but when they pick up their mat and walk away it is many times with a new appreciation of life, a new more spiritually centered and service oriented attitude that makes them good neighbors, good employees and good friends. Recovery from alcohol and other drug problems happens every day. There may be up to 20 million Americans who have recovered from this seemingly hopeless condition of mind and body.

In El Paso, Texas people in the community of people in recovery have banded together to address issues such as stigma and discrimination for people in recovery and to provide peer-to-peer services.  These services, which are delivered and developed by peers, include recovery coaching, a recovery community center and a peer run residential recovery center, called Casa Vida de Salud. Casa Vida has served over 1,500 homeless people with co-occurring mental health conditions as well as alcohol or other drug problems since 2005.

The Recovery Alliance has served over 15,000 people since the community banded together in 1998, and its community events are sometimes the proof that people need concerning having a rich and rewarding life after alcohol and drugs. The Alliance has over 1,000 members from the recovery community along with family members and community allies. Alliance workers provided over 20,000 units of service in 2010 and logged over 5,700 volunteer hours.  The Alliance is supported by the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Texas Department of State Health Services, the City of El Paso, the Veteran’s Administration, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and by the recovery community.

Rural Tour Day Two: Economic Forum in Peosta, Iowa

After a full day spent talking and listening to Americans at town halls in Cannon Falls, Minnesota and Decorah, Iowa yesterday, this morning the President's economic bus tour pulls into Peosta, Iowa for the White House Rural Economic Forum at Northeast Iowa Community College. President Obama and members of his Cabinet will meet with private sector leaders, farmers and small business owners to discuss ideas to grow the economy, accelerate hiring and spur innovation in small towns across the country.

The focus of the forum is how we can create good jobs that put more Americans back to work, and President Obama will announce new job initiatives for rural America that will do just that. The initiatives will include recommendations from the White House Rural Council that include helping small businesses in rural areas access capital, expanding rural job search and training services and increasing rural access to health care workers and technology.

Watch President Obama's opening remarks at 12:50 p.m. EDT and closing remarks at 3:30 p.m. EDT on WhiteHouse.gov/live to learn more about the President's plan to create jobs in small cities and towns across America.

The Sensible, Affordable Option of Solar Hot Water Heating

Ed. Note: Champions of Change is a weekly initiative to highlight Americans who are making an impact in their communities and helping our country rise to meet the many challenges of the 21st century.

Since I was a young boy, I was always interested in how things worked, right down the tiniest detail. I would disassemble and reassemble everything from watches, to televisions, to motors. While doing so, I was always thinking about why something was constructed or done in one way, versus another. It was with this same analytical curiosity that compelled me to question why solar water heating, so popular in buildings around the world, lost its popular, widely adopted use, and instead became seldom-used and not worth pursuing as a product in business.

When I first started my career in the renewable energy industry, I was taken by the simplicity and cost effectiveness of solar water heating. A single solar panel on the roof of a home provides reliable hot water for a home at a cost that is very competitive with electric and gas. Even today the rest of the world uses solar energy to heat water.  Realizing this, I have always held the idea that traditional utilities that deliver electricity, water, gas, or other services on a monthly basis could provide yet another service - solar water heating.  

In the utility business a solar system installed in a home is called “distributed generation.” But wait doesn’t “generation” beget electricity? Unfortunately, that is where solar water heating is disadvantaged; it is neither electricity, nor conservation, nor generation supply. Hence, solar water heating tends to be ignored by utilities and businesses despite that fact that it is four to seven times more cost effective than PV (photovoltaic), and takes up equally as less roof space.  In most States that have renewable goals (RPS) solar water heating is not an eligible technology, for no good reason at all.  When you talk to regulators or policy people that claim it is an oversight.  As a taxpayer and ratepayer I want my dollars spent wisely, and so should you!