Events

OPPA Young Prevention Professionals Partnership

The OPPA Young Prevention Professionals Partnership (YP3) is a membership initiative providing networking, support, and collaborative project opportunities for OPPA members between 18 and 35 years of age. YP3 debuted in 2017, and two cohorts of prevention professionals have participated in the initiative, growing peer relationships, increasing professional development, and creating tools that have benefited Ohio’s prevention community, including the Ohio Prevention Professionals Facebook group.

The third cohort of YP3 is working on professional development tools to benefit the field, as well as the CAPTAIN project, which pairs OPPA members for networking and identified individual professional development opportunities.

If you are interested in participating in the next cohort of the OPPA Young Prevention Professionals Partnership, e-mail mail@ohiopreventionprofessionals.org. OPPA membership is a prerequisite for YP3 participation.

YP3 Participation -  Electronic Payment (Please do not make payment until notification of acceptance into YP3.)

OPPA Youth Prevention Showcase

Youth prevention leaders, OPPA members, and other prevention advocates celebrated the terrific prevention work of Ohio's teens at the OPPA Youth Prevention Showcase on February 12, 2025.

The Showcase featured spotlights on three innovative youth-led prevention interventions taking place in Ohio, through short videos created by the teens leading those initiatives. The three interventions:

• Here's The Deal - A gambling prevention workshop developed and facilitated by teens for teens. (Marion & Crawford Counties Teen Institute)
• Personal Growth Night: Unplugged - An evening of raising awareness about the overuse of social media, coupled with device-free programming, as a means to change norms around connection. (Youth to Youth)
• We Are Change Rally - A statewide event planned by teens, bringing together 1,000 prevention youth and adult allies to raise awareness, network, and celebrate youth-led prevention. (Ohio Youth-Led Prevention Network Youth Council)

OPPA also recognized five young Ohioans with OPPA Youth Prevention Awards for their exemplary efforts in prevention. The honorees:

• OPPA Youth Prevention Alumni Award - Maddie McCutcheon
• OPPA Youth Community Champion Award - Trinity Collins
• OPPA Youth Community Champion Award - Alex Gnau
• OPPA Youth Prevention Advocate Award - Addie Powell
• OPPA Youth Prevention Excellence Award - Carmen Marbley

See the OPPA Youth Prevention Awards tab for narratives about the award recipients and their efforts.

"The videos created by the three youth-led prevention groups were a look into three terrific prevention initiatives led by Ohio teens," noted OPPA Treasurer and Resource Development Chair Kristina Latta-Landefeld. "And the focus on the Youth Prevention Awards illuminated the tremendous efforts of some of our amazing young prevention leaders who are making a difference in our local communities, and in some cases, on a statewide level."

The Showcase was emceed by youth-led prevention alumnus Devin Duncan, who was a local and state prevention leader while in high school and was the recipient of the 2023 OPPA Youth Prevention Excellence Award. Devin is a now freshman at University of North Carolina and continues to support youth-led prevention.

The Showcase was supported by four co-sponsors: Envision Partnerships, the Ohio Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health Prevention and Promotion, Prevention Action Alliance, and Youth to Youth. OPPA values the support of these partners in elevating the work of Ohio's youth-led prevention leaders.

OPPA Conference 2025 Inspires Dynamic Dialogue, Education & Camaraderie

Nearly 200 prevention professionals gathered May 1 for OPPA Conference 2025, a day of exchanging ideas, tackling challenging issues for our prevention, and building and reinforcing relationships with peers throughout Ohio.

The conference began with an interactive presentation facilitated by the OPPA Young Prevention Professionals Partnership, which served as a catalyst for the energizing conversations and deep dives into key prevention topics throughout the day.

The conference day closed with a forward-oriented presentation featuring five OPPA members sharing successes in prevention practice to provide a foundation for conference participants to identify opportunities for professional and program development.

In between, participants gained practical skills and discussed timely topics through an array of workshops presented by leading professionals in prevention and related fields.

"While the OPPA Board of Directors and our Education & Training Team plan and coordinate the conference, our members are just as responsible for elevating the space for inspiring learning and dialogue," notes OPPA Executive Director Jim Ryan. "The OPPA Conference is a pinnacle of Ohio's prevention year and a symbol of the excellence of Ohio's prevention community."

2025 OPPA Prevention Awards

The OPPA Prevention Awards honor Ohio's prevention professionals and advocates for their contributions to prevention on the local and/or state level. Only OPPA members can nominate award candidates.

The 2025 OPPA Prevention Award recipients are recognized below. 

Nomination materials for the 2026 OPPA Prevention Awards will be made available to OPPA members in early 2026.

OPPA Networking Lunch & Learns

OPPA hosts monthly Networking Lunch & Learn opportunities, from September through April, for our members. The Networking Lunch & Learns are one-hour, virtual programs featuring current and emerging prevention subject matter and expert presenters. Participants receive prevention CEUs for participation in the Networking Lunch & Learns.

OPPA Networking Lunch & Learns are a benefit of OPPA membership and are therefore only open to OPPA members. For membership information, go to the Membership tab.

OPPA Community Spotlights

OPPA hosts quarterly Community Spotlights, focused on local prevention advocacy initiatives and content. The Community Spotlights are 60- to 90-minute, virtual programs showcasing either a specific prevention advocacy initiative taking place in a community in Ohio or a prevention advocacy topic with a relevant focus to local communities. Participants receive prevention CEUs for participation in the Community Spotlights.

OPPA Community Spotlights are a benefit of OPPA membership and are therefore only open to OPPA members. For membership information, go to the Membership tab.

OPPA Youth Prevention Awards

The OPPA Youth Prevention Awards honor Ohio's youth leaders for their contributions to prevention on the local and/or state level. Only OPPA members can nominate award candidates.

Below are narratives about each of the 2024 OPPA Youth Prevention Award recipients. We congratulate each of them for their exceptional efforts to champion prevention.

The 2025 OPPA Awards Nomination materials will be made available to OPPA members in August 2025.

Cindy Clouner - OPPA Prevention Visionary Award

The OPPA Prevention Visionary Award recognizes an individual for exemplary efforts to advance prevention across Ohio.

Cindy is the Managing Director of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Drug Misuse Prevention and Recovery (HECAOD), an academic center at The Ohio State University created to provide tools, training, and technical assistance to professionals across the United States working to address collegiate substance misuse.

An Ohio Certified Prevention Specialist, Cindy began her career in school- and community-based prevention in Marion and Crawford Counties before transitioning to HECAOD in 2015. Over the decade since, Cindy has been an increasingly important voice for prevention in our state.

Cindy coordinates statewide and national trainings, workgroups, and committees and develops tools and services to support colleges, universities, and campus communities. She does so with a focus and attention to her work that her peers, both in the collegiate sphere and in Ohio’s larger prevention ecosystem, value significantly.

A few comments from higher education and state-level leaders about Cindy:

• “Cindy has a knack for making sure the right folks are at the table and involved in the discussion. She also possesses a humility in opening the door to others who might not have been asked or thought of initially.”
• “Cindy is data driven. Her advocacy for new prevention strategies for the higher ed population is thoughtful, innovative, and reflects trends and needs documented by current data.”
• “Cindy sees connection. Whether recognizing two professionals who should know about each other’s work or understanding how a program or service can work within a particular community, Cindy just sees the possibilities.”
• “Cindy cares deeply about the work and the impact she can have but has no love for recognition. She is all about results, and when Cindy is around, stuff is getting done.”
• The concept of paying it forward is also fundamental to the way Cindy structures her work. A former youth-led prevention teen, she consistently supports the development of new behavioral health professionals through supervision of other HECAOD staff and mentoring Ohio State students engaged in their field placement under her leadership.

Cindy is a prevention leader in Ohio, influencing systems, universities, services, professionals and consumers throughout our state through her thoughtful, intentional efforts.

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Carmen Marbley

2024 OPPA Youth Prevention Excellence Award

Carmen Marbley is the recipient of the 2024 OPPA Youth Prevention Excellence Award, presented to a teen for exemplary efforts to amplify prevention across Ohio.  

Carmen is a senior at Gahanna Lincoln High School in Franklin County and has been involved in Youth to Youth, a youth-led prevention program based out of CompDrug, a behavioral health organization in Franklin County, for more than four years. 

While Youth to Youth if primarily a locally-based program, the program also provides training, conferences, and other support to youth-led prevention programs across and outside Ohio.

Within Youth to Youth, Carmen is known as a young leader who powerfully impacts both youth and adults and walks in her choice to be drug free in an intentional, influential way. She consistently models the behavior she encourages in others, and she communicates in a way that is both relatable and inspiring. Carmen is also humble and giving, distinguishing when others should be recognized for their positive behaviors and hard work.

Carmen has long made contributions to youth-led prevention on the local level through her participation in Youth to Youth. She is actively involved on Youth to Youth’s Youth Advisory Board, serves on youth staff for Youth to Youth’s middle school camp, and provides leadership at other locally focused Youth to Youth prevention events and activities.

But Carmen’s imprint has exceeded the boundaries of Franklin County. She is a veteran member of the youth staff at the Youth to Youth Summer Conference. The Youth to Youth Summer Conference includes youth and adult participants from many areas of Ohio, other states, and even other countries. In the Summer Conference environment, Carmen is a role model for an international population of youth and adult prevention advocates.

Many youth-led teens in Ohio know or know of Carmen, either from her Summer Conference role or other major youth-led events. At Youth to Youth’s 2024 statewide leadership training, Carmen was one of two teens selected to present to the youth and adults, speaking about youth-led prevention with confidence and integrity to the audience of Ohio youth and adult prevention leaders.

Carmen’s impact within these larger contexts of youth-led prevention provides a beacon for youth whose prevention experience is new, for adults still learning about youth-led prevention, for her already-engaged peers who aspire to even greater prevention heights, and for anyone else in the space who just needs to understand or be reminded of the power of youth to influence positive decision-making and create healthy environments.

“Carmen approaches every challenge with integrity, positivity, and a sense of responsibility,” states Cheryl Sells, Director of Youth Prevention at CompDrug and Youth to Youth. “Her ability to maintain a strong sense of self while encouraging others to make healthy, informed choices is truly remarkable. She is authentic and bold – and understands the impact of prevention.”

Adelaide Powell

2024 OPPA Youth Prevention Advocate Award

Adelaide "Addie" Powell is the recipient of the 2024 OPPA Youth Prevention Advocate Award, presented to a teen who is a prevention advocate and a role model to their peers.

Addie is a senior at Global Impact STEM Academy in Clark County. Five years ago, as a 12-year-old seventh-grader, Addie founded BATS (Bringing Awareness To Students), an arts-based youth-led prevention program in Clark County. BATS is a program of Wellspring, a mental health and prevention agency in Clark County.

Upon founding BATS, Addie dove into the youth-led prevention world to lay the groundwork for BATS. She attended the Youth to Youth Summer Conference, a four-day event providing training, connection, and youth-led development for teens and adult allies. She also participated in leadership training through CADCA, a national organization supporting prevention coalitions.

At home, Addie recruited peers, set up social media accounts, planned meetings and activities, and developed a website -- all with a foundation of diversity. An idea and the subsequent diligence of a seventh-grader in 2019 has developed into a 50-member youth-led prevention group, representing students from 11 high schools, all focused on educating and engaging youth in pro-social activities rooted in prevention science.

Over the five years since BATS origin, Addie's accomplishments are many, including:

• Producing a 48-hour teen film festival, in which young people devote two days to learning film craft and creating their works, all based in substance use and mental health prevention topics;
• Playing key roles with the Be the Change Youth Summit, a day of prevention training for middle school students led by BATS members, leading to the development of prevention initiatives by the participating middle school students;
• Leading What’s Wellness, a community-wide day of wellness workshops facilitated by youth; and
• Helping plan and coordinate a local suicide prevention walk.

Addie does none of this alone. She is adept at working with her peers, earning their respect quietly and authentically. She also possesses a self-awareness and maturity that allow her to fully engage with adults. Her insights are consistently on point and in service to the whole, not self-focused. And, she’s dependable, a trait that built the foundation of BATS and has strengthened it to this day.

An advocate is someone who supports or maintains a cause. Addie exemplifies that definition through her commitment to BATS, youth leadership and engagement, and prevention and wellness.

“Addie is known in the community as the ‘kid who can do anything’ and do it well,” notes Beth Dixon, prevention specialist at Wellspring. “Her honesty of self, strength of character, and sensitivity to the world around her are rare.”

Tonya Birney - OPPA Community Champion Award

The OPPA Community Champion Award recognizes an individual who goes beyond expectations to champion prevention in their community.

Tonya is the Director of Prevention Services for the Mental Health, Addiction, and Recovery Services Board of Lorain County. An Ohio Certified Prevention Consultant and Internationally Certified Prevention Specialist, Tonya has been a champion for prevention in Northeast Ohio for many years.

Prior to joining the Lorain County MHARS team in late 2020, Tonya was a steady presence in the prevention and broader behavioral health world in Cuyahoga County. She worked at the Cuyahoga County ADAMHS Board for almost two decades, coordinating the Board’s extensive Training Institute, which has, for years, provided an array of trainings to the county’s behavioral health workforce.

While prevention can often take a back seat to clinical services, Tonya ensured prevention was well represented in the trainings offered by the Cuyahoga County ADAMHS Board. She was key in the development of a prevention training academy to support professionals in the pursuit of a prevention credential, and she didn't just coordinating training; she was a trainer, too. Countless prevention professionals in Cuyahoga and other northeast Ohio counties learned about prevention from Tonya.

Tonya took that energy with her when, almost five years ago, she went to Lorain County. She hit the ground running, bringing her years of prevention expertise to the county. In Lorain County, Tonya champions and supports the implementation of prevention services in traditional school and youth-based settings, while also advocating for prevention across the lifespan.

She also serves as Project Director for the Lorain County Community Collective Impact Model for Change 2.0 initiative, a four-year prevention plan targeting Social Determinants of Health in minority and underserved Communities in Lorain County. 

A couple comments from Tonya's peers:

• “Tonya has provided great leadership, innovation, and expertise in Lorain County’s prevention service delivery.”
• “This is who Tonya is. She couples a passion for this work with a commitment to community that I have rarely seen in my years in the field. Lorain County is lucky to have her.”

Tonya has waved the prevention flag and has done the work to back up her enthusiasm and commitment, heartily championing prevention in Northeast Ohio for more than two decades.

Showcase Sponsors

Angela Patchen - OPPA Community Champion Award

The OPPA Community Champion Award recognizes an individual who goes beyond expectations to champion prevention in their community.

Angie, an Ohio Certified Prevention Consultant and Internationally Certified Prevention Specialist, is the Prevention Education Program Manager at Wood County Educational Service Center. Her contributions to Wood County through her more than 10 years with the ESC are a veritable smorgasbord of prevention and related services. Angela also supervises prevention staff at the ESC.

Angie trains Wood County schools in Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines and Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports. She has also played a key role with the implementation of the PAX Good Behavior Game, Mental Health First Aid, and myriad other interventions.

She is actively involved with the Wood County Prevention Coalition, the Wood County Suicide Prevention Coalition, and the Wood County Addiction Task Force. A forward-thinker, Angie also created a Community Engagement Coordinator, a Community-Based Diversion Program dealing with school-aged absenteeism.

Angie recognized years ago that statewide engagement would help build stronger services in Wood County. She actively engages in learning and dialogue opportunities with Problem Gambling Network of Ohio, Prevention Action Alliance, and the Ohio Prevention Professionals Association. She also serves on the Advisory Committee for the Statewide Prevention Coalition Association.

A couple comments from Angie's peers:

• "Angie’s efforts serve as an inspiration to others, demonstrating the profound impact one individual can have on community well-being."
• "Angie's unwavering commitment to fostering a safer and healthier environment through proactive strategies exemplifies the core values celebrated by OPPA."

Angie has made prevention a priority in Wood County in innumerable ways, championing prevention both within the schools and community and with her colleagues and local systems.

Alex Gnau

2024 OPPA Youth Community Champion Award

Alex Gnau is one of two recipients of the 2024 OPPA Youth Community Champion Award, honoring a teen who go beyond expectations to champion prevention in their local community.

Alex is a junior at Saint Joseph High School in Lawrence County and is a member of Impact Youth-Led Prevention, supported by Impact Prevention, a prevention agency serving Lawrence County. He also serves on the Lawrence County Youth Council.

Alex began his youth-led prevention journey as an eighth-grader, quickly finding his voice and courage to collaborate with his peers on prevention projects. Since then, he has immersed himself in championing prevention in his school and community.

Among Alex’s contributions:

• Spearheading the Lawrence County Suicide Prevention Walk, a September event promoting awareness and conversation. Alex helps determine walk routes, design giveaways, and create promotional signage. He also speaks at the Walk.
• Immersing himself in mental-health-focused community beautification projects, including a large mural on the Ironton riverfront floodwall area and hopscotches outside local schools and the Impact Prevention building.
• Mentoring elementary-aged kids in the Ironton Municipal Housing Authority through an afterschool program. While helping with arts, sports, and other activities, Alex also promotes and models healthy practices and coping behaviors with the young children.

Since becoming a member of the Lawrence County Youth Council, Alex has developed and trained content at the Lawrence County and Southern Ohio Regional Youth Summits. He has researched content and educated Summit participants – including peers from his own high school – about safe social media usage, healthy relationships, and positive coping mechanisms.

“So many young people in Lawrence County youth-led programming are doing outstanding work, and many of these youth have been assisted or inspired by Alex,” states Meagan Joseph, Program Manager with Impact Prevention. “He has never hesitated to jump in and work hard to ensure the successful implementation of our community’s youth-led prevention initiatives.”

Zachary Thomas - OPPA Prevention Advocate Award

The OPPA Prevention Advcocate Award recognizes an individual for advancing the mission of OPPA: employing the power of dialogue, education, networking, and advocacy to amplify a united voice for effective prevention in Ohio.

Zach, an Ohio Certified Prevention Specialist, is the Director of Wellness & Education with Hancock County Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health Services.

On the local level, Zach listens and engages and pays attention to the people of Hancock County to figure out how prevention works best in a continually evolving world. His work with the Hancock County Community Partnership is rooted in the fundamentals of linking community-based passion with prevention science.

As a local leader in Hancock County states, “Zach understands the importance of using your voice to ensure laws, policies, and practices are consistent with the needs of those we are here to serve and the communities they live in.”

Zach brings that same energy to prevention on the state level. He has become an understated thought leader for prevention, raising questions and considerations with state prevention leaders on everything from how we talk about marijuana in an age of legalization to real-life application of the prevention services rule to the legitimacy of new interventions without demonstrated efficacy.

Zach’s advocacy is entrenched in OPPA’s priorities of dialogue, education, and networking. He knows and models a foundational element of our profession: We create change when we engage in meaningful and intentional ways, even when that engagement may be uncomfortable or challenging.

Zach's advocacy is rooted in relationship. As another local leader states, “Zach’s warmth, authenticity, and deep engagement create a space where leaders feel empowered to stretch their involvement and expand their influence.”

Through his advocacy on the local and state levels, Zach nudges, convinces, and, when needed, pushes his local community and our statewide prevention system to ask and answer the tough questions that lead to healthier communities.

Trinity Collins

2024 OPPA Youth Community Champion Award

Trinity Collins is one of two recipients of the 2024 OPPA Youth Community Champion Award, honoring a teen who go beyond expectations to champion prevention in their local community.

Trinity is a junior at Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School and a member of Youth to Youth, a youth-led prevention program of CompDrug, a behavioral health agency in Franklin County. 

Trinity was drawn to Youth to Youth as a place to express her creativity. The positive choices she was making in her life provided a pathway for her growth in confidence and leadership and an avenue to develop her artistic talents to inspire others to make healthy choices.

Trinity has applied her growing desire to support younger teens in healthy decision-making to immersing herself in the leadership of middle school programming with Youth to Youth. She has led many middle school programming nights, planning content and arriving early to prepare for the evening events. She has also served on youth staff at Youth to Youth middle school camps, facilitating small group activities and discussions, leading large group events, and inspiring younger youth through her words and actions.

Trinity has championed prevention with her high school peers, as well. She has staffed the Youth to Youth Summer Conference, a four-day training ground for youth-led prevention teens and adult allies; contributed skills from photography, drawing, and journaling to dance and music to Youth to Youth events and projects; and volunteered at multiple events and activities.

Trinity’s commitment and creativity led her to develop a workshop titled “No Words,” through which she demonstrates the application of art as a coping skill. The workshop educates and raises awareness about mental health and encourages prevention-oriented practices among participants.

“Trinity embodies the qualities of a true leader and is someone who not only meets but far exceeds the expectations placed upon them,” states Aloni Hardrick, prevention specialist with Youth to Youth. “Trinity’s commitment to her peers and passion for prevention has been unwavering.”

Jayla Lee - OPPA Member of the Year Award

The OPPA Member of the Year Award recognizes an individual for exemplary contributions to the Ohio Prevention Professionals Association and its membership through service to or on behalf of OPPA.

Jayla is a Program Coordinator with PreventionFIRST!, where she builds skills for prevention within schools and faith communities and supports coaches in the Ohio Coaching and Mentoring (OCAM) Network.

An Ohio Certified Prevention Specialist Assistant, Jayla is an active member of the Ohio Prevention Professionals Association. She is a member of the OPPA Young Prevention Professionals Partnership (YP3), OPPA's team of younger members who convene monthly to network, build skills, and provide support to Ohio’s prevention professionals community.

Jayla has been involved with almost every YP3 project implemented over the last two years. Her crowning YP3 achievement is coordination of the team's monthly resources project. The YP3 resources -- infographics, one-pagers, and other narrative and visual tools -- are capsulized versions of content relevant to prevention professionals, developed by YP3 and made available to our prevention networks. The content is published in Monday Mornings with OPPA, through the Ohio Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health Prevention and Promotion's blog, and various other platforms. (See next article for the latest YP3-developed resource.)

Jayla works with other YP3 members on content for these resources, and, most importantly, she takes lead on distributing the content to key prevention communication portals in the state. Jayla has been pivotal to the organization, consistency, and sustainability of the resources project.

While the OPPA Member of the Year Award is focused on Jayla’s service to OPPA and our membership, she also extended her service to the field beyond PreventionFIRST! and OPPA. A few months ago, Jayla joined the Prevention Committee of the Ohio Chemical Dependency Professionals Board, which provides critical input and diligent, detailed work related to prevention credentialing to the OCDP Board.

Jayla’s nominator states: “Jayla deserves this recognition for her outstanding service, advocacy, and dedication to OPPA and prevention in Ohio. Her contributions have made a difference in the lives of many of our members, and by extension, our communities.”

The commitment of our membership to the work of OPPA is essential to everything we do. Jayla elevates that commitment through her diligent and forward-thinking service to OPPA and to you, our members.

Madelyn McCutcheon

2024 OPPA Youth Prevention Alumni Award

Madelyn "Maddie" McCutcheon is the recipient of a 2024 OPPA Youth Prevention Alumni Award, which recognizes an alumnus of youth-led prevention who continues to promote the core values of prevention as a young adult.

In 2019, BATS – or Bringing Awareness to Students – a new youth-led prevention program grounded in the arts, was formed in Clark County. Maddie, a high school junior at Global Impact STEM Academy at the time, was one of the original members of BATS, which is a program of Wellspring, a mental health and prevention agency in Clark County.

A talented artist, Maddie quickly made her mark with BATS. She contributed artwork to several BATS initiatives, including:

• Capture Kindness, an online competition asking community members to take and submit photos of moments of kindness in their day-to-day lives;
• What’s Wellness, a city-wide day of wellness, held in downtown Springfield, in which community members attended a variety of wellness-focused workshops facilitated by BATS members; and
• The Be The Change Youth Summit, an annual one-day prevention training and planning event for middle school students, coordinated by the BATS teens.

One of Maddie’s most meaningful initiatives in high school was her coordination of a BATS art exhibit, titled “Self-Love.” The proceeds from the art exhibit benefited Project Woman, a local provider that supports and empowers people affected by domestic violence.

As a high school senior, Maddie also entered an Ohio Department of Health anti-vaping video contest, earning second-place honors and a $5,000 college scholarship. Maddie used her scholarship to attend Clark State College, where she earned an Associate Degree in Graphic Design. She now works as a marketing specialist for Coldwell-Banker Heritage in Dayton.

As a young adult, Maddie has continued to support BATS and the group’s prevention efforts. She pitches in when her schedule allows, participating in events and sharing social media posts.

Maddie’s most significant post-high school contribution to the group occurred in 2024 when she created a professional redesign of the Be the Change Youth Summit logo. The new logo made its debut at the Youth Summit just a few months ago.

Maddie has extended her community contributions beyond BATS, as well, including volunteer service with Equality Springfield, where she has used her artwork to as a vehicle to support LGBTQ+ affirming initiatives.

“Maddie is modest, sincere, and gracious in all of her encounters,” notes Beth Dixon, prevention specialist at Wellspring who works with the BATS teens. “BATS has been fortunate to have her continued support as a young adult.”