Gabriola Health and Wellness Collaborative
The Gabriola Health and Wellbeing Collaborative’s Poisoned Drug Action Table is proud to announce that it has successfully secured a $10,000 Community Action Team (CAT) Top-Up Grant to support its ongoing efforts to address the impact of poisoned drugs on Gabriola Island.
This funding, provided through the Community Action Initiative (CAI), will enable the Collaborative to implement a series of impactful initiatives aimed at enhancing public understanding, building community capacity, and improving local coordination in response to the crisis. The grant will support three key objectives:
• Public Education Campaign: A comprehensive nine-month public education campaign will be launched, including a newspaper series, a community conversation titled “Ask Anything about the Poisoned Drug Crisis,” and peer-staffed booths at the Farmers Market throughout the season.
• Community Response Capacity: Peer mentorship programs and increased naloxone training events will be organized to empower the community to respond effectively to the crisis.
• Project Coordination and Evaluation: A dedicated Coordinator will be hired to oversee the initiative, and an evaluator will be engaged to develop a formative evaluation plan and produce a final report. The funding breakdown includes $4,770 for public education, $1,100 for community response capacity, $3,200 for project coordination and evaluation, and $930 for administrative overhead.
Chair of the Gabriola Poisoned Drug Action Table, Dyan Dunsmoor-Farley, expressed gratitude for the grant, stating, “This funding is a vital step in addressing the intersecting challenges of the poisoned drug crisis, homelessness, mental illness, and the social determinants of health in our community. We are committed to fostering collaboration and creating sustainable solutions.”
The initiatives will be implemented between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026, with the goal of improving health outcomes for Gabriola individuals and families impacted by poisoned drugs.
For more information, contact Dyan Dunsmoor-Farley at ddfarley@shaw.ca or Claire Dineen at claire.dineen@avi.org
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