This is a great honor of course. The main reasons given were for:
1. Supporting Action for Mental Health (SAM)
SAM is the collaborative effort of local community groups and organizations, faith communities, residents, and local government to raise awareness and address mental health issues in Longmont.
2. Connecting a Community
NextLight is a community-owned broadband service from Longmont Power & Communications that provides the fastest ISP in the nation.
3. An Engaged Community Deals with Disaster
Resilience in the face of the disastrous flood of 2013 was demonstrated as Longmont showed “important and innovative work” to address issues at the local level.
The full details are published elsewhere, but we’d like to think that the Historic Eastside played at least a small part in deserving the All-America City Award.
Over the last year or so, our very own Richard Showers has been raising awareness about the high suicide rates, especially for vulnerable teens, across the US, including Longmont.
In particular, there is an excellent program called Mental Health First Aid which is being sponsored by the city here in Longmont.
As a parent of a teen, I can vouch for how effective that program is. I had reason to use it the very next day with the friend of my teenage son. It gave me confidence to ask those difficult but crucial questions: “Are you thinking about suicide?” and “Do you have a plan?” I don’t know what might have happened without me asking those questions, but I do know I had the tools I needed for that situation.
Do you have any stories from the Eastside that tie into our wonderful All-America City Award?
Historic Eastside Neighborhood Association 