"Our military service members represent only one percent of our population, but they shoulder the responsibility of protecting our entire Nation." -- Not Forgotten - Restore Warriors Project: HRI:H-II OPSEC.

... Again, military member and emergency personnel; law enforcement and firefighters, et. al., and their plight with suicide do not get the appropriate level of attention - especially associated to PTSD, which resonates and impacts their lives over extended periods of time, and often leads to severe depression. -- J. Mikulski, MSA

It Takes a Community

• HRI:H-II OPSEC is working to network educational resource "How to Help Military and Veteran Families, Before, During and After Deployment," to every home in America. This objective is now combined with unmet needs analysis, education tools and resources to help family members and communities understand how be a support system.  -- No One Gets Left Behind: HRI: H-II OPSEC.
• In conjunction with our troops, are resources for police, fire and emergency medical services, keeping us safe, on the frontline, 24/7/365 -- 'Silence can be deadly' : 46 officers were fatally shot last year. More than triple that - 140 - committed suicide -- Add to that number 270 Firefighters: HRI: H-II OPSEC. 4 October 2018.

January 2014 - Updated 18 January 2019

Contact: Stephen M. Apatow
Founder, Director of Research & Development
Humanitarian Resource Institute (UN:NGO:DESA)
Humanitarian University Consortium Graduate Studies
Center for Medicine, Veterinary Medicine & Law
Phone: 203-668-0282
Email: s.m.apatow@humanitarian.net
Internet: www.humanitarian.net

United Nations Arts Initiative
Arts Integration Into Education
Url: www.unarts.org

 



America's Action Plan for Community Service
Touch Outreach the Key to Bridging Unmet Needs to Untapped Resources

As an athlete, coach of arts, sports and Olympic development programs, the focus was to share specialized training, normally available to a privileged few, with a broader spectrum of youth across America.  This led to the development of two national youth leadership and community service projects that reached hundreds of cities across the United States, the first for substance abuse in 1990, in cooperation with the National Clearinghouse for Drug and Alcohol Information (today CSAP), and the second for hunger, homelessness and poverty in 1993, in cooperation with the U.S. House Select Committee on Hunger and twenty national organizations. 

CycleAcrossAmerica.org (1990):

--  a 6000 mile double continental crossing, in 60 days, through 270 cities.
--  Daily youth and community talks, media interviews press conferences to open the first toll free hotline (1-800-SAY-NO-TO-DRUGS or 1-800-729-6686) that provided access to free print materials and audiovisual loan programs through the federal resource for alcohol and drug information. 
--  The largest touch outreach ever coordinated through the Office for Substance Abuse Prevention.

RunAcrossAmerica.org (1993): 

--  A 3000 mile run, 12-25 miles per day, from Washington, DC to San Francisco, California.
--  Initiatives in 133 cities that included scheduled youth and community talks, media interviews to spotlight unmet needs of frontline programs across the United States.

Responding to the Unmet Needs

In 1994, the cross section of unmet needs defined across the United States, led to the formation of the nonprofit organization Humanitarian Resource Institute, with a mission focus to "Bridge Unmet Needs to Untapped Resources" through advocacy and policy development.  -- Unconventional Leadership Development: From "Living On The Edge"​ to being the "Cutting Edge"​: HRI: H-II OPSEC.

How to Help: Hunger & Homelessness in America

In 1993, the inability of the state and local government programs to handle the needs of front line programs across the United States prompted the need for increased citizen involvement.  The Run Across America for Hunger, Homelessness and Poverty focused on networking  the booklet "How to Help: Hunger & Homelessness in America" that included a 14 point congressional mandate, constructed by the U.S. House Select Committee On Hunger, to evaluate available resources and unmet needs. 

The focus of the following needs assessment is to help community leaders who desire to advance strategic planning and development of solution oriented initiatives.

Questionnaire 

1. Is there a community based food delivery network in your area ? This coordinated network would include food pantries, feeding programs, soup kitchens, congregate meal programs and food banks. 
2. Has a needs assessment been completed in your city/county area within the last year ? This would be defined as a comprehensive effort to collect information on the extent of food insecurity problems in the community. 
3. Does your city/county area have an Anti-Hunger Policy Coalition ? This program would be defined as a central group of residents who gather information detailing the needs of the community to help develop courses of action for responding to gaps in existing services. 
4. Is there a program to communicate the availability of Federal Food Assistance ? This program would educate residents about the various federal food assistance programs and work with local officials and private sponsors to improve the availability of services to all residents. 
5. Is there a working program to mediate Public/Private Partnership ? This would include working relations between government agencies, private groups,  non-profit organizations and businesses to work together to solve local food insecurity problems. 
6. Are there any organizations promoting citizen involvement ? This would include efforts to educate residents about local food insecurity problems and encourage their involvement in activities to combat hunger. 
7. Is there a communication network in place to provide information and referral services ?  
8. Are there pathways existent to expand sources of low-cost food ? This area encompasses the development of creative food resources such as community gardens, buying clubs, food coops. farmers markets and community owned grocery stores. 
9. Is there a program in your city/county area to target vulnerable population groups ? These efforts would identify and target services to those groups that are at high risk of food insecurity problems, such as homebound elderly and small children. 
10. Are there food distribution services for transporting food to programs that provide emergency meals, etc. ? 
11. Does your city/county provide direct access services: These are sites that are easily accessible to community residents? 
12. Does your city/county provide public transportation services ? Residents, social service program administrators and public transit systems should work together to establish public transportation routes that provide direct community access to public assistance services and food outlets. 
13. Does your city/county provide nutrition education classes ? These nutrition education programs are to help inform residents about the relationship between diet and health, and help them develop nutritious food buying and preparation habits. 
14. Is your city/county area currently participating in gleaning programs for collecting and channeling to needy persons, wholesome foodstuffs which would otherwise go to waste ?

America's Action Plan for Community Service

The objective to bridge unmet needs to untapped resources continues today through the "America's Action Plan for Community Service" that includes the following objectives:

-- To empower youth and community leaders with the tools they need to develop initiatives that can effectively bridge unmet needs to untapped resources in their communities.
-- To encourage the immediate development of a needs coordinating group in every local community across the United States.
-- To encourage the development of a communication network that would include the executive directors of all frontline service programs to obtain prioritized overviews of unmet community needs.
-- To encourage the construction of a grass roots communication network to all churches, interfaith organizations, youth leadership programs, volunteer programs, corporations, media outlets (newspaper, radio and television), state and national leaders.
-- To encourage the distribution of quarterly or bi-annual needs updates.


Humanitarian Resource Institute invites all American's to support this grass roots initiative in cooperation with the objectives of the Corporation for National and Community Service.


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