Green Your Mind, Lane County!

More and more citizens have heard about sustainability when it comes to energy conservation, recycling, organic gardening, public transport, and much more.

But what about sustainability when it comes to mental and emotional wellness?

It is time to apply sustainability principles to the urgent issues of mental and emotional well being for our whole community, especially for youth and emerging leaders in the mental health field.

Green your mind!

Let's explore wholistic, humane, empowering non-chemical approaches for mental and emotional recovery.

Youth have few rights when it comes to mental health care. They are often pressured or forced to take pills or injections for their mental and emotional problems. MindFreedom is pro-choice about personal health care decisions by families, but there are often few wholistic choices offered for those with a family member in crisis.

The empowerment and self-determination of mental health clients is especially important to the future of mental health care. As a first step, we need to hear the diverse opinions of those on the receiving end of mental health care, especially youth.

The Lane County Green Your Mind Fair will use:

* Skits to encourage youth and others to speak in their own voice about mental and emotional well being issues.

* Forums to help the community speak to one another, and find resources.

* Videos of these events for distribution via Community Access TV, Youtube & DVD.

MindFreedom's Youth Committee, headed by Martin Rafferty, provides the leadership.

We are requesting funding to implement our existing Garden Improvement Projects at our eight Partner School gardens. Because our staff is so busy recruiting and coordinating volunteers, teaching kids in the garden, leading garden maintenance work parties, raising funds, and running our organization, they seldom have time to focus specifically on improving existing garden sites.

By providing for an extra 35 hours of staff time and additional financial resources to upgrade existing garden infrastructure, this project will make these school gardens more sustainable, thus ultimately reducing the amount of staff and volunteer time the gardens require by lowering the maintenance needs for weeding and watering.  With better compost, improved soil fertility, better irrigation, and fewer weeds, garden plants will be healthier, repelling pests and diseases and producing more food.  Installation of automated drip irrigation will also result in a 50% water savings over sprinklers.  Garden sheds will keep dirt out of the school hallways, allow for more efficient use of class time, and allow volunteers to work in the garden when the school is closed. 

SGP staff time will be used to solicit and coordinate community resources to accomplish as many of the following garden improvements as possible:  large-scale non-toxic weed control at two gardens, construction of a garden shed at one school, installation of automated drip irrigation at two schools, building raised beds at three schools, and improving soil fertility at all schools.

Neighbors 4 Responsible Growth is a charitable and educational organization composed of Veneta and area residents. Our mission is to promote the welfare of the citizens of Veneta by providing education and assistance to citizens in: (1) monitoring development, (2) protecting natural areas: trees, wetlands, and greenways, and (3) retaining
Veneta’s livability by encouraging innovative development, drainage, and transportation solutions. We champion citizen involvement and work to make the public process more responsive and accessible to all. We work to change chemical policies by advocating for precautionary action and alternatives assessment, two models that help protect families, communities and the natural environment.

Project Description:   Neighbors 4 Responsible Growth (N4RG) has been working in the Fern Ridge Area for over two years to modify the negative impacts of the surge of development in our area.  Our plan is to have monthly meetings where we provide educational programs to the community. The first will be on January 31, 2008 and will provide information and instructions about rain harvesting.  People will leave with detailed instructions for setting up a rain barrel on a downspout. We also plan on going door to door in areas that have particular needs or concerns relevant to the quality of life in their neighborhoods.  Our purpose is to assist people to know how to make their voice hear within the community.  After personal conversations that help us to determine people's interests, we will provide them with the information that shows them how to make the best use of their efforts. The funds for this grant will permit printing and copying of educational materials.  There will be a pamphlet describing our activities and goals, individual sheets detailing the meeting times and purposes of city organizations, lists of key people with email addresses and phone numbers, and advice concerning giving public testimony.