By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Atmore City Council members breezed through a two-item agenda Monday, formally recognizing May as Mental Health Awareness Month and officially accepting Rebuild Alabama grant funds for needed improvements to five city streets.
Marlo Young, who serves as Regional Community Outreach Navigator for the Alabama Community College System and Executive Director of Escambia County Mental Health Advocates, asked for and was granted permission to hold the annual Mental Health Awareness Walk.
The event will be held May 18, with a 10 a.m. scheduled starting time. It will begin at Heritage Park and continue to the Boxcar Willie parking lot, where a resource fair will be held. Young said several mental health practitioners will be on hand to show the public what services are available in our area.
“This is a call to action,” said the mental health advocate, who was joined by several members of Prima Girls Mentoring Program and several adults who are vital parts of the program, including school counselors Nicole Jones and Cordia Lee. “We all have important roles to play; mental health is everybody’s business. We need to take action to protect our own mental health, and the mental health of the community.”
Mayor Jim Staff then read the proclamation, which will be published in its entirety in the May 1 edition of Atmore News.
In the only other action taken during Monday’s meeting, council members accepted a $250,000 grant from the state’s Rebuild Alabama Fund. They also named Civil Southeast as engineers for the resurfacing project, which will include new surfaces on portions of Industrial Drive, Maple Drive, Trammell Street, Filmore Drive and Beck Street.