Coalition Initiatives
Yellow Ribbon Campaign – an awareness campaign held every September (Suicide Prevention and Awareness month) throughout the four counties. All area schools are offered a kit created by the coalition that contains yellow ribbon and sidewalk chalk. A student group from the school takes the materials we give them and creates their own suicide awareness campaign in their community.
Stomp on Stigma Campaign – a visual awareness campaign that was created by the coalition and has been featured in the Ohio Strategic Plan for Suicide Prevention. Throughout the months of August and September shoe collection bins are placed throughout communities in the four counties. The collection bins serve as an awareness tool as they display signs about decreasing the stigma associated with mental illness as well as serve as a place for people to donate their old worn out shoes. Once collected the shoes are then used in 1 of 3 displays which are held at NW State Community College, Defiance College and the Fulton County Fair. The goal is to display 136 pairs of shoes with each pair of shoes representing a resident of Defiance, Fulton, Henry or Williams county who died by suicide between 2010 to 2015.
