Dogwood partnered with Change Agent Phillip Cooper and the Rutherford County United Way to create an event called “Voices of Affrilachia,” featuring listening sessions and site visits between NC DHHS officials and BIPOC community leaders in WNC to create culturally sensitive mental health and SUD services in WNC. As a direct result of the “Voices of Affrilachia” project, United Way of Rutherford County and Cooper partnered on a larger, short-term project funded by NC DHHS in collaboration with Partners Behavioral Health. The program, named “Project Urgent Need,” served people with severe mental illness or co-occurring disorders. Cooper led a team of peer support specialists, providing housing assistance and follow-up peer support to 170 people in WNC and Catawba and Cleveland counties. Other team members distributed Narcan across a seven-county footprint. From their efforts, project leaders have been notified of six lives saved from overdoses.
