With full administrative and staff support, Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Foundation Executive Vice President Todd Lindley brought together a group of community leaders to begin talking about creating a grantable project. These leaders represented some of the organizations which would become the Partners (listed under Coalition Partners).
The first three years of the program were subsequently funded through a Rural Health Outreach grant from the Department of Health and Human Services. These funds provided for every facet of the plan, from hiring Gay Harrison as the full-time salaried project coordinator, to intern and graduate student stipends. Funding also covered the design and building of a web site and thousands of dollars which were granted to high school students for individual project creation.
With a solid foundation in tested prevention strategies, I Sing the Body Electric provides a community-based primary prevention effort that engages adolescents through experiential learning to address behaviorally related health risk factors. That's the black and white of it. But the real color can be seen by just looking at the projects at an exhibition, tour, or presentation. Youth have been articulate, thoughtful, and altruistic in researching topics and choosing a wide variety of arts media to use to communicate their concerns.
Locally, we are so proud of our teens who took this challenge seriously. We asked them to tell us what they thought - and low and behold, their message was not only loud and clear, but elegant, humorous, introspective, exuberant, serious and responsible. We entrusted $10,000 to our youth and they responded by returning 100% of that in projects which have captured the attention, imagination and appreciation of countless audiences throughout East-Central Illinois.
The I Sing the Body Electric Partner Board is the decision-making body which governs the activities of the program and provides guidance and direction. Each partner organization is represented on the Partner Board. The coalition has met on a monthly basis since October 1997. Each partner brings unique assets and commitment to the program:
Eastern Illinois University (EIU) provides graduate tuition waivers and internship stipends. Faculty members serve as advisors on all phases of the program, including surveying, project production and the tour. The EIU Institutional Review Board has reviewed survey activities and the EIU Testing and Assessment office provides survey data intake and reporting. The program is also promoted on the campus public television and radio stations - WEIU FM & TV.
Lake Land Community College (LLC) assists in promoting the program in their media and provides facilities and services for student project production (video and sound studios on campus).
Paris Community Hospital (PCH) assists in identifying sites for tour activities, helps link health care professionals and students in Edgar County and makes educational resources available. PCH also assists in promoting the program in the media in their region.
The Regional Office of Education (ROE) serves as the communization conduit for school superintendents and building administrators across the seven county region. Major functions of the ROE include representation for the Partner Board, advising on best practice procedures for working with and in the schools, assisting in identifying state and federal education grant opportunities and distributing information to all schools
Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System (SBLHS) helps identify state and federal health education and prevention grant opportunities and offers technical support in submitting appropriate proposals. SBLHS also hires and supervises and hiring all project staff, assists the Partner Board in planning and implementing activities, and provides support services including phone, van use, office space, computer support services, accounting, and payroll services.
WCIA TV, CBS affiliate, Champaign, provides production services and placement of PSA's and advantageous times on their channel, and promotes the program on-air. They also are planning to web-host student messages.
Coalition Membership: Members from key community constituencies are involved in Body Electric Safe and Drug-Free Communities Coalition efforts to reduce substance abuse. Several individuals have also been welcomed into the Coalition through their expressed interest in the program. The membership includes youth, parents, business, media, youth-serving organizations, law enforcement, faith community, civic and volunteer groups, health care professionals, substance abuse agencies and education.
Awards
- 1999 Illinois Principals Association Partnership Award (October, 99)
- Award of Excellence, Graduate School, Eastern Illinois University (April, 2000)
- Outstanding Achievement in Health Education, Eastern Illinois University (April, 2000)
- State/community Coalition Award, Centers for Disease Control and the Association of State & Territorial Directors of Health Promotion and Public Health Education (May, 2000)
- Outstanding Achievement Award, Futures for Kids, Illinois Department of Human Services (August, 2000)
- Outstanding Community-Based Prevention Award, Illinois Drug Education Alliance (November, 2000)
- Illinois State Board of Education Partnership Award for Systems Building (January, 2001)
- Outstanding Achievement in Health Education, Eastern Illinois University (April, 2004)
-National Civic Star Award - semi-finalist representing Illinois, Am. Assoc. of School Administrators (2006)
-Coming Up Taller Semifinalist - National Endowment for the Arts and for the Humanities (June 2006)
