NAMI Prince William
ANNUAL
REPORT
Calendar Year 2007
NAMI Prince William
“NAMI Walks” Team
October 13, 2007
pg_0002
February 14, 2008
To: NAMI Prince William; its leadership, membership, supporters, and friends
Subject: Annual Report for Calendar Year 2007
Wow! What a year!
On January 1, 2007, many of us were probably wondering what indeed would happen to our two-year-old,
embryonic NAMI group. We were struggling to become a bona fide, grassroots, local affiliate of NAMI
Virginia – in order to specifically serve the residents of Prince William County and the independent cities
of Manassas and Manassas Park. There was so much to do in this area, and we all were frustrated that we
didn’t yet have approval to operate as a fully-authorized NAMI group. What a sense of relief and
exhilaration it was when, on March 22, we heard that we were finally recognized officially as “NAMI
Prince William.” We could finally re-initiate our activities.
All of our prior dues and other income had previously gone to another organization, so we began our new,
official activities with only eight members and about $80 to our credit. By years-end, we had grown our
dues-paying membership by 400%; and (through dues, a grant, fundraising, and donations) our income
increased over 10,000% - providing us with a stable financial infrastructure from which to work.
We have a great Board of Directors and, and thanks needs to go to each and every one of them for their
hard work, perseverance, and steadfast faith in NAMI Prince William’s ability to not only survive, but
quickly grow and blossom. Thanks also to our many new members who, besides providing the dues
which sustain our efforts, also participate in our support groups, join with us in our fundraising events,
and volunteer for our committees and other NAMI-related activities. Thanks also goes to those private
and public business entities which have generously supported us in many ways; we salute you.
Lastly, our special thanks go to a most awesome group, our many NAMI Prince William members and
friends who are “consumers” of mental health services. You are all truly inspiring. While there remains a
vast amount of research, support, education, and advocacy work ahead of us in the years to come, we all
have had a glimpse (in less than one year) of what self-determination and empowerment can do for
intelligent, entrepreneurial people when their hopes and ideas get the support and nurturing needed to turn
dreams into realities. NAMI Prince William will continue to be there for you in the future. You rock!
Thank you all. With your help, calendar year 2007 turned out to be a phenomenal one.
Phil Ross
President
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NAMI is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of
persons living with serious, treatable, physiological, brain disorders and their families.
Founded in 1979, NAMI has become the nation’s voice on mental illness – a national organization
with affiliates in every state and in over 1,100 local communities across the country who join together
to meet the NAMI mission through
Advocacy
,
Research
,
Support
and
Education
.
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I. NAMI Prince William Organization and Tax Status
a.
Structure:
“NAMI Prince William” (NAMI-PW) is an affiliate of the “NAMI Virginia” state organization
and, through them, the NAMI National organization.
NAMI-PW is primarily made up of residents of Prince William County and the independent
cities of Manassas and Manassas Park – who have personal knowledge of the anguish,
suffering, and challenges related to persons afflicted with treatable brain disorders. It is a
diverse group, made up of the families and friends of “consumers” of mental health services,
consumers themselves, and other interested parties.
b.
Important Historical Dates:
October 17, 2006 – After nearly two years of initial activities and a growing need for an
autonomous grassroots presence in the area, NAMI-PW’s ad hoc “Steering Committee”
formally decided to apply to NAMI Virginia for affiliate status. The requisite forms were
completed and signed, the Steering Committee became the proposed Board of Directors for the
envisioned “NAMI Prince William” affiliate organization, and all paperwork was submitted the
following day (Wednesday, October 18, 2006).
November 18, 2006 – NAMI Virginia voted to approve NAMI Prince William’s application to
become a bona fide NAMI affiliate.
March 10, 2007 – The NAMI (National) Board of Directors voted to uphold the decision of
NAMI Virginia and approve formation of the Prince William affiliate.
March 22, 2007 – NAMI Prince William was formally notified by NAMI National that affiliate
status had been granted.
April 19, 2007 – NAMI Prince William became incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia
(as NAMI Prince William, Incorporated).
May 3, 2007 – The Internal Revenue Service of the Department of the Treasury assigned to
NAMI Prince William an Employer Identification Number (EIN). We’re ready to roll.
c.
Tax Exempt Status
NAMI Virginia (the state-based “central organization” to which NAMI Prince William is
affiliated) is an existing, IRS-compliant, nonprofit organization with a Group Exemption
Number (GEN) of 3297 which covers NAMI Prince William. NAMI Virginia is listed as
“Nami-Virginia” in IRS Publication 78. The entry shows Nami-Virginia with a “deductibility
code” of 1, which means that NAMI Virginia’s subordinate affiliates are also considered to be
nonprofits. Prospective donors to NAMI Prince William can verify its subordinate, tax-exempt
501(c)(3) status by contacting NAMI Virginia at www.namivirginia.org/
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II. Governance, Committees, and Membership
NAMI-PW is currently a membership-based, committee-structured organization, governed by
its Board of Directors, some of whom have many years of experience in mental health
advocacy, education, and support. Three members of the NAMI-PW Board have been on the
Board of Directors of NAMI Northern Virginia, a neighboring NAMI affiliate. One of our
directors has been a past President of that affiliate. In addition, at least one member has been
providing NAMI-related support programs in Prince William County for many years prior to
the formation of NAMI-PW. The President of the Board of Directors of NAMI-PW is also on
the Board of Directors of NAMI Virginia, the statewide affiliate organization. During CY 2007,
the Board added three additional members, increasing its number to eleven.
a.
NAMI Prince William Board of Directors as of December 31
Phil Ross – President
Diana Malcolm – Secretary
Bob Simon – Vice President
Larry Springer – Treasurer
Dave Carlini
Angela Clark
Dee Dee Crosby
Barbara Driscoll
Susan Frankowski
Paul Walla
Jeri Weeks
b.
NAMI Prince William Committees
NAMI-PW currently has eight committees:
Membership
Fundraising
Education
Support
Advocacy
Public Information
Finance
Operations
Many of our committees are embryonic and need both increased membership and leadership.
We welcome new members and hope they will wish to take an active role in working on our
committees in pursuit of NAMI’s objectives.
c.
NAMI Prince William Membership
While there are many attendees of NAMI Prince William’s groups and activities, our official
membership numbers relate to dues-paying, voting members (a much smaller number, as there
is only one voting member per family).
pg_0006
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0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Consumer
Members
Consumers on
Board
Board
Members
Voting
Members
NAMI Prince William - Membership Growth
Membership - Last Two Quarters of CY 2007
Q3 Start
Q3 End
Q4 End
As shown in the previous chart, we’ve been rapidly increasing our membership and especially
our consumer participation in NAMI Prince William governance.
Our “new” NAMI Prince William (Inc.) organization officially started with only its initial
board members (i.e., the number of voting members was 8). Since then, we’ve grown to well
over 50 members (even though our “voting” membership count was 40 at the end of CY 2007).
N.B. --- We’ve added quite a few new members since then --- which will be reported in the
next annual report.
III. Activities
a.
Fundraising
1.
“NAMI Walks” program
Our NAMI Prince William treasurer handled our
successful and financially-rewarding involvement in the
NAMI Walks program run by our state affiliate in
Richmond, on a warm, sunny day, last October.
Through that activity, NAMI Prince William raised over
$2,000.00 for NAMI Virginia, a portion of which
($1043.50) was returned for our use. This event was
attended by Gov. Kaine, Dr. James Reinhart, the
Commissioner of DMHMRSAS and many hundreds of
happy walkers.
Governor Kaine at the start
of NAMI Walks in October
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Dr. James Reinhart, Governor Kaine, and some of the DMHMRSAS walking team
2.
Regional Recovery Funding
(grant)
While facilitating the grant request writing activities last spring, we were told that we could
also submit a grant request for funds to help us in pursuit of our mental health related goals.
We did so, and we were awarded a grant for $9,275.00 which will be used to purchase some
key equipment, office supplies, and other items needed for our education, support, and
advocacy efforts. The funding was provided in June, 2007 and must be completely used by
June 30, 2008. To remain compliant with the grant requirements, we provide monthly budget
updates along with current detailed expenses, and we submit quarterly outcome measurements
to show how successfully we’re meeting or exceeding the proffered objectives.
b.
Education
1.
“Visions for Tomorrow” program
Two NAMI Prince William board members provided a very successful, free, eight-week,
educational “Visions for Tomorrow” course at the Parent Resource Center in Independent Hill
last spring. The course is for parents or caregivers with children with brain disorders. (This
past spring’s course was the subject of an article that appeared in the “Potomac News” &
“Manassas Journal Messenger” shortly thereafter.)
2.
“Family to Family” program
NAMI Prince William has one member trained to teach the highly-praised, NAMI “Family-to-
Family” program, but it takes a minimum of two trained instructors to provide the course.
NAMI Virginia will train NAMI members free of charge to teach these courses, and NAMI-
PW is planning to provide this needed course within our area in the future.
3.
Speaker Programs
Due to circumstances beyond our control, NAMI Prince William was not able to provide the
speaker programs originally envisioned for 2007. However, NAMI-PW was able to entice
Trudy Harsh and Dotti McKee of the Brain Foundation to provide us with some personal
insight and stories related to starting a residential housing program. It was a great meeting, and
we will certainly have similar programs in the future to address the same subject matter.
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c.
Support
1.
Regional Recovery Funding – Grant Request Facilitations
NAMI Prince William members have been participants in Regional Recovery Work Group
activities for years.
(See the RRWG “liaiso n” activities mentioned later in this report.)
In 2007, some
DMHMRSAS funds became available for grants for qualified consumer-run businesses and
related activities. NAMI-PW facilitated the grant-writing program for four consumer-run
business requests, all of which received some or all of the grant monies requested.
•
Prince William Drop-In Center (PWDIC)
Three entrepreneurial women planned Prince William
County’s first and only consumer-operated drop-in
center. The grant request was for $136,095.00 for funds
to be used by June 30, 2008. The award monies allowed
the three principals to lease, paint, furnish, and decorate
a center which is conveniently located in Woodbridge.
PWDIC also provides part-time employment for about a
dozen consumers who operate the Center six days a
week, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Center provides a
game room, a relaxation room, a TV area, and high-speed Internet connectivity for
two PCs which have been loaded with leading-edge Microsoft Vista OS, Office, and
other software products. The three directors, the facilitators, and the many PWDIC
members and users all play a role in planning activities for the Center’s success.
On Saturday, February 16, 2008, PWDIC received official notice from the IRS
that it was designated an IRS-compliant 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization!
•
Little Jack Horner’s Corner
Another successful grant was for a consumer-run,
nonprofit bakery that would not only provide bakery items
for sale but would act as a training facility for consumers
wishing to learn baking skills.
•
Two Other Grants
In addition to the above, two grants were awarded to a requestor who needed the
funds to improve and expand:
o
a window-washing service, and
o
an Internet-based, used-book business.
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2.
NAMI Prince William Support Groups
During 2007, there have been four NAMI Support Groups active:
•
Two Family & Friends support groups,
o
one in Woodbridge, holding monthly meetings in the Potomac Hospital
Conference Room facilities, and
o
one in Manassas, holding monthly meetings in the Prince William Hospital
Conference Room facilities; and
•
Two Consumer Support Groups,
o
one in Manassas, holding weekly meetings in the Prince William Hospital
Marstellar Training Center facility, and
o
one in Woodbridge, holding monthly meetings at the Prince William Drop-
In Center (PWDIC).
It’s significant to note that the Consumer Support Group in Manassas and the Family & Friends
Support Group in Woodbridge have both been operating continuously for over ten years – long
before the Prince William area had an active NAMI affiliate presence.
d.
Advocacy
1.
Community Services Board membership
During 2007, the Prince William County (PWC) Community Services Board (CSB)
modified their bylaws to language more in sync with Virginia Code § 37.2-501, regarding
the membership of the Board and, specifically, that one member of the board “shall be a
consumer receiving services.” As of year-end, it was not yet evident that a “consumer
receiving services” was on the CSB, but we believe that this issue will be resolved in 2008.
2.
Commission on Mental Health Law Reform
During 2007, one member of NAMI-PW’s Board was part of the Commonwealth of
Virginia’s “Commission on Mental Health Law Reform.” NAMI-PW is working with
NAMI Virginia and others in support of 2008 and future legislative initiatives supporting
both near-future and long-term plans for comprehensive reforms.
3.
Local advocacy
NAMI-PW continues to advocate within the county for better mental health services,
elimination of waiting lists, jail diversion programs, increased availability of beds,
expanded residential services, furthering “Recovery Model” best practices, etc.
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e.
Public Information – NAMI-PW Website
NAMI-PW rolled out its
www.NAMI-PW.org
website in 2006. The website currently contains
seven major sections:
•
About Us
– an overview of NAMI and NAMI-PW
•
Local Activities
– a chronological list of local activities
•
Regional
– items of a regional nature
•
State & National
– items on a state and national level
•
News
– newsworthy information
•
Contacts
– local mental health and related contact information
•
References
– useful hyperlinks to other web-based information
Web Statistics
How was NAMI-PW found?
google.com
nami.org
msn. com
live.com
aol.com
naminova. org
yahoo.com
pwcgov. org
(others)
Additional webstats are available from our Webmaster
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In the preceding diagram, it’s interesting to note that nearly one-third of all users of our website
information came to our website via the
www.nami.org
website. Google and other “search
engine” programs were the primary ways in which users found our NAMI Prince William
(
www.NAMI-PW.org
) website. For that reason, we’ve taken steps to provide various Internet
search engines with additional information that will enhance their being able to “find us.”
In 2008, the NAMI-PW website and related functions will be dramatically increased.
f.
Operations
1. NAMI Prince William Meeting Locations
NAMI-PW uses facilities that are convenient to our membership, easy to find, and easy to
access.
Currently, NAMI-PW and related NAMI groups use available facilities at the:
•
Prince William Health System
o
Prince William Hospital Conference Center Rooms
o
Center for Psychiatric and Addition Treatment (CPAT) rooms
o
Marsteller Center rooms
•
Potomac Hospital Conference Center
rooms
•
Prince William County
o
County Complex
°
McCoart Administration Building’s conference rooms
°
Development Services Building’s conference rooms
o
Ferlazzo Building’s conference rooms
•
Family Teamwork
conference room (until Fall, 2007)
and, occasionally,
•
Prince William Drop-In Center
(PWDIC) board room.
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IV. NAMI Prince William Liaison Activities
a.
Prince William County - Community Services Organization
NAMI-PW has had a strong, working, arms-length relationship with the Prince William County
Community Services (CS) organization, its governing Board (the CSB), its executive staff, and
its services personnel.
NAMI-PW members regularly attend CSB public meetings and CS events to ensure that our
issues are being both heard and addressed. Conversely, we have been called upon by various
CS departments to participate in Mental Health events and meetings that are in the best
interests of both groups. One example of this synergy was on Saturday, May 19, 2007, when
NAMI Prince William’s then-vice-president, Jeri Weeks, was emcee for the CSB’s highly
successful Mental Health Awareness program at the McCoart Building. NAMI’s “In Our
Own Voice” program was also a featured part of the day’s activities.
The Community Services organization and, specifically, its Mental Health Case Management
personnel have copies of our most recent NAMI-PW informational pamphlet with related
contact information to hand out to consumers, family members, and others.
Whenever the CS organization has activities of interest to our NAMI-PW constituency, NAMI-
PW lists such activities in our website’s “Local Activities” section.
b.
Northern Virginia Regional Strategic Planning Partnership (“NVRSPP”)
Prince William County and the independent cities of Manassas and Manassas Park are in
“Region II” of Virginia’s Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance
Abuse Services (DMHMRSAS) – along with Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church, Alexandria, and
Loudoun. The NVRSPP is the de facto, oversight and planning entity for Region II – made up
of respective CSB executive directors and staff members, regional caregivers, family members,
consumers, and other interested parties. The overarching goal of the NVRSPP is to define and
implement plans by which DMHMRSAS resources and funds might be optimally and cost-
effectively used within Region II in pursuit of DMHMRSAS goals.
NAMI-PW attends and actively participates in all NVRSPP meetings.
c.
Regional Recovery Work Group (“RRWG”)
The RRWG started as a subcommittee of the NVRSPP (and is still part thereof) but has evolved
to a point where it needs to become a separate, independent, incorporated, nonprofit
organization in order to continue to meet its expanded mission objectives.
NAMI-PW members have been active in RRWG activities for over three years and have had
special involvement in consumer-run business subgroup work.
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In May, 2007, consumers from the Prince William area participated in grant request
opportunities, and all received grant awards. The largest of all of the awards (for $136,095.00)
went to a Prince William requestor to fund the start-up of the first drop-in center in the County,
the “Prince William Drop-In Center (or PWDIC, pronounced “Puh-WID-ik”). Other awards to
Prince William requestors went for various consumer-run businesses, e.g., a bakery, an online
book store, window-washing service, and a consumer training program. NAMI Prince William
helped to facilitate the grant-writing efforts of all but one of the successful grantees. NAMI-
PW also facilitates transportation for local consumers to/from RRWG meetings in Fairfax.
d.
Regional Recovery – PWC Stakeholders Group (an ad hoc group)
Primarily due to the RRWG-funded consumer activities in this area, a number of the involved
stakeholder groups and individuals felt that it would be smart to hold bimonthly meetings to
discuss related opportunities, challenges, and successes.
The current group includes the RRWG fund grantees, Community Services executive staff
members, and involved NAMI Prince William members.
Some Last-Minute Statistics from the Regional Recovery Work Group
Source:
Regional Recovery Work Group
“2
nd
Quarter Outcomes Summary”
(Reporting Period: 10/01/07 – 12/31/07)
Number of Consumers Served by RRWG Grants
City of Alexandria 26
Loudoun County 47
Fairfax County 169
Arlington County 367
Prince William County 200
Region II of DMHMRSAS
That last statistic reflects the results of RRWG grants awarded to consumers within the Prince William
area. Over $150,000.00 was awarded to Prince William grantees in June. All but one was for
consumer-run enterprises or training programs. All Prince William grant requestors received full or
partial grants --- a real success story!
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The Real NAMI-PW Workers
Who were the real workers responsible for NAMI Prince William’s success?
Who were the ones who worked on those special projects?
Who were the ones who went to all those meetings in Fairfax and elsewhere?
Who were those who gave up their weekends for training or conferences?
Who are the facilitators who put their hearts into this work?
Here’s a list of some of them.
Some did not wish to be listed, but they’re still our heroes.
Barbara Boyd
Dave Carlini
Sharon Castonguay
Angela Clark
Dee Dee Crosby
Barbara Driscoll
Cynthia Dudley
Susan Frankowski
Orlando Gonzalez
Kevin Green
Ann Gurtler
Barbara Hafele
Bob Hafele
Traci Jones
Diana Malcolm
Shawn Pearson
Phil Ross
Bob Simon
Larry Springer
Paul Walla
Sandra Warren
Hersh Weeks
Jeri Weeks
Kimberly Worthington
______________________________________
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A Few Key Supporting Organizations
The following is a partial list of those organizations which have provided support for
NAMI Prince William
Support comes in many forms, e.g., use of facilities, pro bono services, program assistance, donations.
We wouldn’t be where we are today … had it not been for help from these and other organizations.
Thank you !!
http://www.sheppardpratt.org/
http://www.pwhs.org/
http://www.pwcgov.org/csb
COUNTY OF PRINCE WILLIAM
COMMUNITY SERVICES BOARD
http://www.potomachospital.com/
http://www.hdjn.com/
http://www.familyteamwork.com/