ETSU receives grant for recovery community center, presents national research
Ed Greene, Master of Health Administration student in the East Tennessee State University College of Public Health, witnessed a class project come to fruition.
“I'm happy to report that Dottie, (Dr. Greene, Associate Professor in the ETSU Department of Social Work) and I were awarded significantly more than I was fictitiously working with for the class project,” stated Mr. Greene.
The Johnson City Press reported the collaborative effort between East Tennessee State University and other partners will establish a center at 513 E. Unaka Ave. with the second-largest grant the county’s Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) Committee recommended. Overall, the commission will fund about $4.6 million from the settlement, including $1.9 million for an abstinence-based “residential recovery court” planned for the former Northeast Correctional Center annex in Roan Mountain.
In addition to the community center and regional recovery court facility, commissioners also approved funding for five other projects aimed at combatting addiction. Mr. Greene will now serve as the board treasurer and financial advisor for the newly formed 501(c)(3).
"The project that I submitted for the leadership class was the base idea for the Johnson City Recovery Center, and many of my class project pieces were included in the proposal (budget, justifications, logic model, & business plan)," continued Mr. Greene. "The majority of the grant writing was done by my wife, Dottie, and the project would not have happened without her input and knowledge of addiction treatment models and studies."
The class project was an Intervention Design Proposal and Evaluation Plan. It is designed to take students through the process of 1) identifying an important public health problem in need of solutions; 2) identifying evidence-based strategies that address the problem in a given context; developing an action plan for implementation and a budget; developing an evaluation strategy to measure implementation and long-term outcomes. Students can select their respective topics, within the parameters provided in the project instructions.
“Having class assignments that mirror the type of work students will encounter in practice is an important component of the program and a feature of our academic programs,” said Dr. Nathan Hale, Associate Professor in the Department of Health Services Management and Policy. “While we can’t duplicate the specifics of every practice-based project or task, we provide students the cornerstone from which to build as a professional. The success of this project is a perfect example and we are excited to see how this new program advances health and well-being in our community.”
More details on the project are available from ETSU News.