The mission of the Columbia-Greene Addiction Coalition is to address addiction in our community by ensuring our residents have access to Information, Education, Treatment Options, and Recovery Supports.
A dual county initiative, the coalition is a multi-stakeholder 501(c)3 organization jointly chaired by
Jason Fredenberg, PsyD, Director of Community Services in Greene County, and
Dan Almasi, Director of Community Services in Columbia County.
Our goal is to build and maintain healthy, safe, and drug free communities by ongoing collaboration with the following 12 community sectors:
Youth, Parents, Business, Media, School, Youth serving Organizations, Law enforcement, Religious or Fraternal Organizations, Civic or volunteer groups, Healthcare, State, Local, and Tribal Government Agencies, and Other local organizations involved in reducing substance abuse.
If you are interested in getting involved with CGAC please reach out!
Hannah Calhoun, Executive Director
(518) 303- 3665
The CGAC Aims to:
Raise Awarenessabout the risks associated with drug and alcohol use
Educate the Communityabout prescription and illicit drug abuse and its impacts
Plan and Deliverprevention and harm reduction programs and activities
Promote and Use Best Practicesfor treating pain and addiction
Ensure There are Adequate Supportsfor treatment and recovery
How CGAC Will Accomplish These:
Stimulatinginformation exchange and partnerships
Collecting, Analyzing and Reporting Dataabout prescription and illicit drug abuse and its impact
Conducting Outreach and Educational Eventsfor the general public
Deliveringprevention programs to school-age children
Identifying and Supportingpolicies that support access to treatment
Current Members of the CGAC Include:
Primary &Specialty HealthcareProviders
Mental HealthService Providers
Alcohol/SubstanceAbuse TreatmentProviders
Pharmacies
Dentists
Public Health/PreventionRepresentatives
HigherEducation
LawEnforcementAgencies
CriminalJusticeOrganizations
IndividualsAffected byAddiction
We aim to recruit and enlist new members by conducting targeted, often one-on-one outreach to key stakeholders, organizing public education events and creating a “speakers bureau” to present to civic organizations such as rotary clubs, firehouses, etc.
The Columbia-Greene Addiction Coalition wants to engage all sectors of our communities, and that’s where you come in!
Contact Us today, to see how your community organization can help.
Our History
Our organization was formed in the summer of 2013 as the “Columbia-Greene Controlled Substance Awareness Task Force”.
Initiated by Columbia Memorial Hospital, our members included Columbia and Greene County Directors of Community Services, Columbia and Greene County Health Departments, Columbia and Greene County Sheriff’s Departments, NYS Police, District Attorneys for Columbia and Greene Counties, Twin County Recovery Services, Healthcare Providers, and Educators.
In June of 2018, the task force was renamed the “Columbia-Greene Addiction Coalition”.
Past activities of the coalition include:
- Two education and outreach dinners.
- In-classroom prevention programming coupled with a poster contest in multiple schools, in both Columbia and Greene Counties.
- Safe disposal boxes for prescription medications at multiple locations in Columbia and Greene Counties.
- Improved guidelines and processes for substance use contracts, urine drug screening, scales of functional pain assessments, opioid risk tools, and protocols for treating narcotics patients system-wide.
- Forging positive working relationships between the health system and outside providers to ensure seamless transitions of care for shared clientele.
