November 1, 2008
By Michelle Rupe Eubanks, Florence Times Daily Staff Writer
An Alabama native and founder of Impact: An Alabama Student Service Initiative is one of 10 Americans who has received the Community Health Leaders Award for 2008. Stephen Black received the award for his role in establishing the FocusFirst initiative in 2004 as part of the Impact organization.
The program has involved University of North Alabamastudents in past projects and Black said he wants to include them again in future initiatives. The Community Health Leaders Award honors people who take action in their local communities.
FocusFirst is designed to provide a cost-effective means to treat vision problems before school age for children who live in urban and rural parts ofAlabama. Black brought the idea to the Shoals in 2005 when he trained students from UNA to take part in the project.
“It’s also a business model, and that’s another reason I believe it won the award,” Black said.
No state currently provides vision care before public school age because you usually can’t get to this population in big numbers, and, when you do, it’s expensive.
Black, grandson of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, partners with universities because many college students have never been to a Head Start program in ruralAlabama, so it becomes an “eye” opening experience, both literally and figuratively.
FocusFirst has been dormant at UNA for the past two years, but Black and Tammy Jacques, director of student engagement at the school, said the program could be back on campus as soon as spring.
“Students get hands-on experience when they go out into the community and are part of something that’s more than just a one-time process,” Jacques said. “It’s also a
User-friendly and flexible program because it allows them to volunteer when it suits their schedules and still have an impact and make a difference in these children’s lives.”
Since FocusFirst began in 2004, volunteers have screened more than 40,000 children in all 67 counties in Alabama. About 5,000 of those children failed the screenings and were subsequently referred to Sight Savers of Alabama for follow-up care.
Since then, 1,608 children have been screened in Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, and Lawrence counties, with 12.3 percent failing the screenings and receiving follow-up care.
Black said Impact has begun other initiatives, including one to help people prepare their tax returns.
“That’s already grown, and we hope to have it in the Shoals next year,” he said.
Michelle Rupe Eubanks can be reached at 740-5745 or michelle.eubanks@TimesDaily.com.
