Submitted by Georgia Ferrell
I’m writing with the hope that you can find the time before August 20th to complete the template letter [at the bottom of this letter] to the City of Coronado to show your support for the full funding request that has been made by Coronado SAFE to the City Council. The Council will vote on this at its August 21 meeting.
Due to the increased need in the community for high level prevention and intervention programs and counseling around emotional and behavioral health in our youth, Coronado SAFE is asking the city to increase its funding to $280,000 (from $130,000). With the increase in funds we can hire licensed and master’s level staff to handle the increase our youth are having regarding issues of self harm, suicide ideation, drug use, anxiety, depression and the like.
Below is a template letter. Please copy and paste into an email and complete the area highlighted in yellow, or feel free to write a complete letter using your own words. If you write your own, please include the words “support for full funding.” All of the city council supports Coronado SAFE’s work, the vote on August 21 will be to decide how much money they will grant us.
If you are available to attend the City Council meeting to show your support, it begins at 4:00pm on Tuesday, August 21 at City Hall, 1825 Strand Way.
Please send letters to:
Mayor Bailey – [email protected]
Bill Sandke – [email protected]
Carrie Downey – [email protected]
Whitney Benzian – [email protected]
Mike Donovan – [email protected]
and a copy to me would be appreciated:
[email protected]
Feel free to share this with any SAFE supporters that you think may write a letter.
Thank you for your time!
Georgia Chakos Ferrell
Executive Director
Coronado SAFE
Please complete the area highlighted in yellow or feel free to write your own letter. If you write your own letter, please include the words “support for full funding.” All of the city council supports SAFE’s work, the vote on Aug. 21st will be to decide how much money they will grant to SAFE. If you don’t have a story or time to write it, simply delete the sections highlighted and sign the letter as is.
TEMPLATE LETTER
City of Coronado
Mayor and City Council Members
1825 Strand Way
Coronado, CA 92118
August 16, 2018
<Describe a little bit about why Coronado SAFE is important to you, your family and/or the community of Coronado.>
Please accept this letter of support for full funding of Coronado SAFE’s Community Grant Application. Coronado is blessed to have a community organization that is separate from police, schools, churches, etc., in order to provide confidential services, and nevertheless collaborates closely with them. SAFE provides comprehensive, scientifically based emotional and behavioral prevention and intervention programs and counseling to Coronado’s youth and families. It is true that local and national reports on school shootings, drugs use, anxiety and depression are on the rise. Thanks in large part to the school counselors and the collaborative, they too have observed higher than expected rates of depression, anxiety, suicidality, family dysfunction, bullying, and drug use in our own community.
For example . . . <If you have a personal story regarding the issues facing you, your family or our community, or how SAFE has positively affected you, your family or our community, please share some general details here (while omitting any sensitive or personally identifying information.)>
The Board of Directors and staff at SAFE have thoroughly examined the needs of our community and determined that the currently student model is not sufficient to care for the increasing severity of needs. In response to the serious issues, Coronado SAFE plans to increase the level and quality of the services to ensure that the best care is provided. Specifically, they will continue to offer general education and prevention such as Coffee Talks, but will add licensed and Master’s prepared clinical counselors to run small groups and workshops for the highest risk youth and provide more intensive counseling.
The time is right to launch a Comprehensive Prevention and Intervention program to meet the full needs of the youth and families in the Coronado Community and I am pleased to offer full and enthusiastic support for full funding of Coronado SAFE’s Community Grant application. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at the information below.
Sincerely,
Your Signature
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