Champions of Change Blog

Achieving Results for an Entire Community Through Self-Sacrifice

Posted by Sandra L. Villarreal on September 15, 2011 at 7:35 PM EDT

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.

Victor H.P. Villarreal, Ph.D. is a tireless advocate of education access throughout central Texas. Seeing a need for expanded higher education opportunities in his home town, Leander TX, Vic ran for City Council on a platform of working hard to bring a college into the city. Few people would place their entire career and education on-hold for almost a year in order to fulfill a promise made to their community, however once elected Vic immediately began working to mobilize excitement for a college campus. Vic placed his own doctoral studies on hold, and took a personal and financial hardship in order to individually work hard to bring a college campus to his community and help others begin to achieve their own education dreams.

From 2005-2009 and specifically in 2007 Vic worked diligently meeting with Austin Community College (ACC) Trustees, writing education articles in the local paper and perhaps most importantly wrote a 64 page report on Leander’s and western Williamson county’s need for more higher education access. The report was written after Vic took 9 months off of his Ph.D. dissertation work to create and advertise a community survey – mobilizing over 500 residents to complete the survey, developed a website for the effort and wrote the extensive report. The report was and remains the only document of its kind for any western Williamson county Texas community. As a result of these efforts, ACC has committed to build a full service campus in Leander providing access and hundreds of jobs and decades of education opportunity to the area.

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Learn more about Education, Working Families
Sharing a Love for Learning with the Next Generation

Posted by Christine Morin on September 15, 2011 at 4:24 PM EDT

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.

My mom-in-law, Dottie Morin, has always had a passion for reading and learning, and has shared this passion with her children, grandchildren, and students throughout her life. Although she retired from teaching in 2006, she knew she wanted to become involved in some way with early literacy programs to continue to share her love for books with others. While reading a feature story about the Born to Read program in the Beaufort Gazette, she became intrigued with their mission, so she volunteered at a local birthing center. Dottie’s energy and enthusiasm earned the recognition of the Board, and after two years volunteering, she became a valued Board member, and is now serving her first year as the Chairman of the Board.

The Born to Read program currently has 30 volunteers who are trained to visit new parents in local hospitals the day after their baby is born to educate them on the importance of reading to their child. The parents are given a gift bag with new books and various literacy materials. Their statistics are incredible! Their volunteers visited over 2,200 new mothers in 2010, 30% of which were military families. Their mission statement “to lay the foundation for academic success” continues to guide the organization in all that they do.

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Learn more about Education, Working Families
Organizing Young Volunteers with New Media

Posted by Barabara Rozen on September 15, 2011 at 1:46 PM EDT

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.

"I always wondered why somebody doesn't do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody." Lily Tomlin's quote is the inspiration for these mid-west siblings. When high school students, Simone and Jake Bernstein discovered that it was challenging for youth ages 16 and under to find volunteer opportunities. They took action. The sister and brother team took the initiative to create a regional; and are currently working on a national website to engage youth in volunteer service and service learning opportunities.

As military dependents, Simone and Jake appreciated the outpouring of support the St.Louis community bestowed on their family when their dad was deployed. These siblings wanted to pay it forward, but were frustrated with the lack of information and volunteer resources available for youth under 16. There was no local website or resource specifically geared towards youth and family volunteerism. Their goal was to create stlouisvolunteen.com: a simple, green, paperless and user friendly resource for area youth, nonprofits and schools. Never having created a webpage before StLouisvolunteen.com, they truly dived in blindly.

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Leveraging National Resources to Reduce Suicide in the United States

Posted by Jane Pearson on September 3, 2011 at 12:21 PM EDT

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.

Suicide is a major public health problem that affects every sector of society. It is the third leading cause of death for youth ages 15-24. In the United States alone, more than 30,000 suicides occur every year—roughly twice the rate of homicides. Most suicides are thought to be associated with untreated mental illness, such as major depression.

An important goal of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is to prevent suicide. But it takes communities dedicated to working together to address the complex problem of suicide and to translate research into practice. One way we help to facilitate this is by leveraging the resources, knowledge and experiences of a nationwide network of partner organizations dedicated to helping those with mental disorders. These partners—more than 80 at the national level and 55 partners in every state, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico—serve as the “eyes, ears and feet” of NIMH. About half of these partners work actively to prevent suicide in their local communities, many of which are underserved rural areas. For example, the NIMH Outreach Partner in Montana used NIMH data to educate immigrants from India about depression and suicide prevention in the aftermath of two suicides among Asian American college students. Our Missouri and South Carolina partners have developed strong partnerships with faith-based organizations to train clergy in Hispanic and African American communities to recognize the symptoms of depression and warning signs for suicide. These churches are then able to link members in crisis to mental health services.

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Learn more about Health Care, Veterans
Helping Young People in Times of Crisis

Posted by David McFarlan on September 2, 2011 at 5:35 PM EDT

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.

Each one of us deserves a chance to dream for the future, no matter who we love or how we express our gender. For thousands of young people across this country, whether they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ), they find themselves in situations of isolation, high anxiety and depression with nowhere to turn. They may fear rejection from their families, or have been bullied by their peers; they may have been kicked out of their home or rejected by their religious community, or they suffer from mental illness. For too many young people, the built-in safety nets of love, acceptance and caring do not exist; but for them, there is always “Trevor.”

The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ young people, ages 13-24. Offering lifesaving programs and information, Trevor works every day to help make the future better for all LGBTQ youth.

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Learn more about Civil Rights
The Future of Suicide Prevention: Changing how we SAVE Lives

Posted by Daniel Reidenberg on September 2, 2011 at 9:08 AM EDT

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 wanted to become a doctor so that I could help people. I thought if I could help even one person get through the worst of thoughts, emotions and behaviors, it could help change the world. So I set out to do just that. Seeing the pain, anguish, and struggles of people afflicted with mental illnesses gives a person a perspective on life not everyone has.

Over my 25 year career in the mental health and chemical dependency field, I, like many others, have seen and heard a lot. The worst imaginable darkness that exists within our world, and at times within our minds and souls from brain illnesses, is hard to bear. What has impacted me most, however, is the staggering impact that that suicide has on families, friends, classmates, co-workers, and communities as a whole. Even the mere word suicide invokes the deepest of fears among the loved ones of those who suffer. Today, I know that when it comes to suicide, saving one person does save the world.

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