2014 NAMI FaithNet Mini-Grant Recipients
Mid Year and Final Reports Included
Italics = previous grant recipients
Affiliate
Grant
Contact
Type
Person
NAMI Omaha
Omaha,
Nebraska
Capacity
Building
Timothy
Wilkinson
Contact Information
(402) 932-7354
namiomaha@gmail.com
Proposal
Faith outreach has been
made a priority for 2014.
Would like to begin setting
the ground work to reach
out to local faith
communities.
Goals
Expects to train for core
members on Reaching out
and Bridges. Those members
will create a survey to be sent
out to 50 churches. Hope to
receive 3 inquiries to present
Bridges….
Mid-year Repot
Rec’d
Final Report
Rec’d
11/11/14:
Hosted two
presentations
and two
conferences;
involving a
Lutheran
church and one
at a CMA. 25
and 15
attendees at
the
presentations.
45 and 85
attendees at
the
conferences.
Plan to follow
up with new
contacts the
initiative
generated.
Plan to use
Bridges for
future
outreach.
NAMI
Wayne/Holmes
County
Wooster, Ohio
Enhanced
Outreach
Patty
Fitzwater
(330) 264-1590
pfitzwater@namiwaynehol
mes.org
Hold two separate events
geared toward faith leaders
1) Plans to host a brunch for
20-30 clergy using NFN tools
with the goal of education and
stigma reduction.
2) Plan to create appropriate
literature for 100 faith
leaders, including 15 Amish
bishops.
Affiliate
developed and
delivered
literature to 119
clergy and Amish
Bishops. Plan to
follow up with
letters, phone
calls, and an
invitation to
brunch (in Oct.) to
discuss
community
resources.
NAMI Howard
County
Columbia, MD
Enhanced
Outreach
Beverly
Francis-Gibson
(410) 772-9300
Bfgibson.namihc@gmail.c
om
Would like to strengthen
relationship with churches
involved in Sunday suppers.
They will assign a NFN
committee member to act
as a liaison with each
church. Planning a box
lunch in June for all
congregations involved in
Sunday Suppers.
Congregation
representatives will meet
their liaison and brainstorm
ways to further engage with
church.
Hope to strengthen
relationship with all 13
congregations that
currently host suppers.
Would like to offer at least
10% more presentations to
congregations in 2014.
Hope that they will gain
new speakers and new
members from better
connections with faith
communities
Currently
reaching out to
strengthen
relationship with
faith communities
that are involved
with Sunday
Suppers. Hopes
that with further
outreach affiliate
will be able to
offer education to
the faith
community and
develop new
support groups.
NAMI Genesee
County
Linden, MI
Capacity
Building
Ramona Deese
(810) 735-4935
ramonadeese@aol.com
Has already worked with
NAMI Michigan to offer a
presentation to “Concerned
Pastors for Social Action”.
Affiliate has 50 members and
plans to train 3 volunteers
using Reaching Out and then
Bridges. Hope to use Bridges
10/23/14:
Hosted two
events, a
brunch and a
dinner; with a
total of 40 faith
community
members
participating.
Open to all
faiths with
special
outreach to
Amish. Actively
encourage
people to
become
members.
10/28/14:
Hosted a Faith
in Action
Luncheon for all
congregations
that their
identified
liaisons have
been working
with. Each faith
leader received
a packet of info
and resources,
including NFN
brochure.
11/10/14:
1) Completed 4
mailings to
ministers. 2)
The affiliate wants to
expand on this outreach.
to make 2 presentations by
September. Will use grant
funds for materials and
postage to reach out to Social
Action members.
NAMI Upper
Valley
Idaho Falls, ID
Capacity
Building
Sheila
Keefe
(208) 830-8336
Sheila_keefe@hotmail.co
m
Affiliate intends to create a
4 member outreach team
who will train using
Reaching out and Bridges.
They will then report back
to the Board to create an
outreach plan.
The affiliate will identify 4
members to complete training
in faith outreach. These
members will report back to
the board to create an
outreach plan. Affiliate hopes
to create a contact list of
diverse faith communities (6
or more denominations).
NAMI Four
County
Archbold, OH
Enhanced
Outreach
Louis Levy
(419) 267-3355 ext. 3
lougoblu@bnnorth.net
Small affiliate with no paid
staff and 64 members.
They would like to create a
more formal outreach to
faith leaders. Up until now
they have done some
“inefficient” outreach
without much of a
methodical approach.
They will identify 7-8
volunteers, with a minimum
of one from each county they
serve.
Volunteers will create contact
list of congregations in their
county and reach out to them
for a meeting to discuss MI
and resources.
Participated in
Hope and
Health in the
Community
events. 3)
Spoke at one
church service.
4) Will be
offering F2F at
nondenominational
church in 2015.
11/3/14:
Spend bulk of
funds on
pamphlets to
hand out at
event. Event
scheduled for
95 people on
10/5/14.
Trained 7
people to be
part of rotating
presenters.
Hope to expand
outreach to 10
counties in
Idaho.
Affiliate has
collected contact
info for all clergy
associations in
their community,
have met with 3
pastors. Building
a database of
local faith leaders.
11/6/14:
Conducted
mental health
first aid training
to clergy and
lay leaders. 25
attendees.
Training will be
repeated in the
Would like to use funds to
create a formal plan.
Hope to recruit pastor
“champions” who will help
expand outreach.
NAMI North
Dakota
Grand Forks, ND
Capacity
Building
Barb Dahlen
(701) 757-0282
Barb.namind@gmail.com
Bring together a group of
individuals to help
determine the feasibility of
faith outreach in the Grand
Forks area.
Plans to train 4 individuals to
be the FaithNet team. Team
members will complete
training with Reaching Out
and Bridges; will then come
together to discuss long term
plan.
NAMI Illinios
Springfield, IL
Enhanced
Outreach
Lora Thomas
Thomas.lora@sbcglobal.ne
t
(217) 522-1403
Already working with
Pathways to create
materials/messages for
faith communities which
will be made available to
affiliates. Hope to be used
for Mental Health
Awareness Month
NAMI
Thurston/Mason
Lacey, WA
Enhanced
Outreach
Sue Allen
Sallen2376@gmail.com
(415) 515-9376
Would like to expand their
outreach into the Jewish
community. Would like to
Hope to offer a networking
opportunity for all affiliates on
faith outreach. Following the
event they hope that 5
affiliates will commit to faith
outreach in their county.
Additionally, they will offer an
educational workshop for
their fall conference to further
prepare affiliates and
community members to begin
outreach in 2015.
1) Hope to host a presentation
at 1 synagogue by June 2014.
Hope to train 2-4 volunteers
Currently has MH
1st Aid
presentation
scheduled for
9/17. Has also
offered 2
presentations at
newly identified
churches.
Spring.
Affiliates
intends to keep
checking in with
attendees for
further
opportunities
for partnership.
11/2/14:
4 affiliate
members
completed
Reaching out
training. Intend
to come
together to
discuss
feasibility of
moving forward
on faith
outreach in the
future.
Affiliate has may
contact with a
Rabbi, has formal
look at what faith
communities they currently
have a relationship with
who may be willing to host
and faith based support
group.
Plan to provide some
technical support to another
nearby affiliate who is just
starting faith outreach.
NAMI Rensselaer
West Sand Lake,
NY
Basic
Outreach
Mary Beth
Honsinger
namirensco@gmail.com
(518) 588-6949
Planning to offer an event
at SUNY Albany through the
school of public health.
Affiliate will provide
resources to all participants.
Intends to use the money to
fund printing costs,
materials, postage, and
refreshments.
for this presentation. Hoping
to have 10-18 participants
2) By October 2014 they
would like to have reached
out to congregations to gauge
interest in offering a faith
based support group.
3) Host a training and
presentation of Bridges to the
Grays Harbor County NAMI
and their community by 2014.
1) Hope to offer the event on
August 28th
2) Train 4 volunteers to
present by May 2014
3) Send out 70 invitations for
various faith communities and
religious organizations.
4) Create binders for each
attendee that has info re:
services, support groups,
treatment centers, signature
programs, etc.
meeting 8/22 to
discuss material,
invitations,
formalize date.
Working with
NAMI Grays
Harbor to train
their
staff/volunteers
to conduct faith
outreach.
11/13/14:
Began by
forming a
committee to
build capacity
around Faith
outreach.
Created a
folder of
community
supports and
resources.
Offered 1st
formal
presentation on
8/28/14; used
Bridges…;
invitations were
sent to 140
faith leaders,
but only 10
participated
from Catholic
and protestant
churches. One
participant has
asked for a
NAMI Indiana
Enhanced
Outreach
Joshua
Sprunger and
Carole Wills
carolejwills@sbcglobal.net
jsprunger@namiindiana.or
g
Plans to complete 3 major
projects this year. 1)
Networking and hosting a
table at the AAPC national
convention 2) provide at 6
hour Reaching Out training
to interested affiliates, 3)
co-sponsoring seminary
training in Oct. 2014 at
MHM Conference.
1) Distribute 200-300 NAMI
FaithNet brochures to
conference attendees in hopes
of getting 2 new partners.
2) Train 10 more NAMI
affiliates on Reaching Out…
3) Hope to train 200
seminarians and local clergy;
will also create pre and
posttest evaluation tool.
NAMI Alabama
Enhanced
Outreach
Wanda Laird
wlaird@namialabama.org
(334) 233-2993
Intends to partner with the
Department of Corrections
Goal is to have 50-75 total
participants that will lead to
follow up
presentation to
congregational
outreach
committees.
11/17/14:
1) Conducted
trainings for
faith leaders on
various topics.
2) Attended P2P
conference,
AAPC
Conference,
NAMI Nat’l
convention.
3) Created and
conducted
seminary
training
(collaboration
with P2P and
AAPC).
4) Other
outreach
initiatives for
mental health
awareness day,
articles,
mailings.
5) Planning
outreach to
refugee &
immigrant
populations.
Held screening of
Hidden Picture: A
11/12/14:
Hosted 2 events
and local clergy to conduct
a half-day summit on for
individuals of faith, living
with mental illness in the
prison population.
10 new members. They also
hope the summit will help
secure two new faith
community contacts to follow
up with in the future.
NAMI DeKalb
Basic
Outreach
Alisa Porter
nami.alisa@gmail.com
(404) 353-4004
Would like to host
presentations for two large
faith groups.
They hope to reach about
1,000 individuals due to size
of the churches they intend to
connect with. Will start out
my offering Bridges with the
hopes of following up to offer
MH 101/IOOV, then start faith
based support groups as
needed.
NAMI Madison
County, Indiana
Basic
Outreach
Larry
Wiesenauer
wiesewrite@juno.com
(765) 387-0396
Affiliate has already gone
through the capacity
building phase; has
purchased a laptop,
1) Train 6 already identified
volunteers to be able to
present Bridges to faith
communities, by 8/2014
Personal Journey
into Global
Mental Health.
50 community
members
attended. Has
plans to follow up
with attendees.
in September.
One was a
panel
discussion on
the
documentary
Anonymous
People.
Conducted
Sharing hope
presentation at
Prince of Peace
Church.
Combined the
attendees
totaled 650
people.
11/13/14:
Conducted 4
NFN events;
have 3 events
scheduled for
early 2015. For
3 events
affiliate used
Bridges of
Hope. Also
trained
facilitator to
conduct faith
based support
group for family
members which
has now begun.
projector, PowerPoint
software, & laser printer.
Identified a total of 230
faith communities in their
county. Intend the use
grant funds to purchase
thumb drives for volunteers
to do at home study and a
projector screen. Affiliate
would like to be as selfcontained as possible as
many of the faith
communities in their area
are small and have few
resources.
2) Conduct Bridges
presentations to
congregations; hope to visits 4
congregations by end of 2014.