The local Williams Alliance organization has been operating in the community longer than most people may realize. While the name may seem relatively new to the community, the organization itself has been around since the early 1990s, according to Beth Britton, director of the Williams Alliance. The group's current moniker was adopted earlier this year, from their former name, the Williams Alliance Against Drug Abuse" (WAADA).
"It started in about '90 or '91. Nobody is really sure," Britton said. "It came about because there were federal funds that funded the Governor's Alliance Against Drug Abuse (GAADA) and
they were the central organization. People came to the Governor's office. They met, they planned and then people came out into the communities and began forming coalitions in all of the communities. Williams was one of those communities that had a group of people who met on a regular basis."
Following the formation of the fledgling Williams organization, Britton said, federal grants became available.
"At that time, Deborah Beals spearheaded the writing of this grant and they asked me to be a part of it. Connie Leto was a part of it and so we wrote a grant for the drug free communities. At that time the funds were coming out of the U.S. Justice Department," she said, adding that the group was funded for its new mission in 2000.
"We're in our seventh year of funding. Originally the funding was supposed to be for five years. We were able to competitively apply and were very, very fortunate, one of, I think, three in the state that were funded for another five year cycle."
In the interim period, however, there were a number of changes in store for the group. The drug free communities program found itself moved from the control of the Justice Department to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMSA), according to Britton.
"When it moved, everything changed," she said. "We were asked to separate ourselves from the CASA group. We were building an identity as the Williams Alliance, but yet we were keeping that support from CASA as a non-profit. Not only did we transition from the Department of Justice, (but) the whole focus changed as far as the grant in what the expectations were and what we were to do and how we were to do it. That was a big upheaval for us as a small organization. That was two years ago."
She said the Alliance is still in a state of transition.
"We're still looking at how the Alliance operates, how it should operate, we're slowly working on all of those things," Britton said. "Another transition that happened was when we were one of 11 in the state awarded the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF-SIG) grants. Patricia was hired full time to come in and to work with youth and to work with collecting the data that we were to collect. That was a big change, because we were being asked to make decisions based upon data and that we were asked to collect that data. We collected data through key informant interviews. I can't say who we interviewed, but we interviewed key people in this community who worked with youth and gathered information from them. We also had focus groups. Then we had a community forum."
She said most of the data was included in a data summary, part of which targeted information on underage drinking.
"We had spent over a year collecting that data through all of these different processes," Britton said.
Officers in the Alliance
The Alliance recently elected a number of new officers during a Nov. 29 meeting held at the Williams Senior Center.
"Right now there are four (officers), but there could be five. We're looking at our bylaws again, changing things and bringing in training to see how we should be operating as the Alliance," Britton said.
Current committee members include Sandra Roe, chairperson; Sue Tamulevich, vice chair; Rose Marie Rincon, secretary and Sarah MacRae, past chair. Staff members include Britton, Victor Vivio, office manager; Patricia Helgeson, youth specialist; and Massey.
Both Vivio and Britton work part-time with the Alliance.
"What we do as staff and what people as Alliance members is to try to get involved in as many organizations as we can to make an impact," Britton said.
