Chattanooga leaders met Wednesday to call for more funding and collaboration to fight the opioid crisis and support children in families that struggle with substance abuse.
At a forum hosted by the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce and Chattanooga 2.0, the education initiative it houses, Chamber President and CEO Christy Gillenwater, Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke, Richard Tate of Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee, Chattanooga police Chief David Roddy and others discussed what can be done to help children affected by the opioid crisis.
"Every family is battling opioid addiction in some way, or has a close family member who is battling it in some way," said Jared Bigham, executive director of Chattanooga 2.0. "The central message today is not only protecting those early childhood programs that are well established in our communities and early childhood programs across the state."
Bigham, along with other leaders, called for federal and state funding for early childhood programs and policies that protect them.
The city of Chattanooga is one community in Tennessee that has made an effort in recent years to support early childhood programs and services.
In 2017, Berke hired a new director for the Office of Early Learning, Ariel Ford, after already boosting investment in early childhood development. The city also funds Baby University, a partnership among the city, Signal Centers and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee that uses an intensive case management model to provide support and resources to pregnant mothers through their child's toddler years.
Earlier this year, the city also accepted a $25,000 grant from the Pritzker Foundation Children's Initiative that aims to help infants and toddlers and their families access child care and explore expanding the home visitation model piloted by Baby University.
The number of Tennesseans impacted by opioid abuse has only increased in recent years. Tennessee ranks 12th in the nation for deaths due to opioids and second for the number of prescriptions per person, Berke said.
In 2017, Tennessee's Department of Children's Services requested more than $2 million in additional funding from Gov. Bill Haslam to increase the number of caseworkers across the state.
Tate said his organization now serves about 225 families in Southeast Tennessee and more than 600 statewide - it's"just a drop in the bucket," he said. At least one in four of those families is struggling with substance abuse issues.
"Unfortunately, we very often see families across Tennessee struggling with substance abuse," Tate said. "These are events that will echo throughout childrens' lives into adulthood."
All the leaders in attendance agreed that focusing on early childhood and supporting children and families early make a huge impact.
"When we think about kids, especially in this early learning world, don't think about kids in isolation," Berke said. "We have to advocate for smart policies."
Ford said funding was not enough to support children and families through the crisis, though.
"Funding is necessary, bot not sufficient if there is not a comprehensive system nationally, statewide and locally," she said.
This includes collaboration between agencies and government entities, such as early learning programs, case management and law enforcement, creating shared statistics systems and establishing governing structures that understand how to use them.
As far as Chattanooga, Ford said some of the work of bringing people together to the table was already underway.
"Chattanooga 2.0 is an amazing catalyst for this system, but it does have to be partnered with state and federal systems with appropriate funding," she said.
Contact staff writer Meghan Mangrum at mmangrum@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592. Follow her on Twitter @memangrum.