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One Day at a Time (ODAT), a non-profit [501(c) 3] Arkansas company, was founded in Little Rock in 2004 by David Palmer, an experienced publisher and business executive. He launched the operation that year with a free quarterly tabloid publication with a local distribution of 40,000+ and an additional distribution of 10,000+ to Arkansas prison inmates.
We added a web site in 2005 and gave it a new name, Onedayatatime.com, and a facelift in 2009.
Our mission is to reduce the use of illegal drugs and alcohol by promoting local awareness of substance abuse, emphasizing the benefits of recovery, and by seeking collaborations and offering incentives to those who share our common interest.
It is a mission well-worth pursuing.
“If we can’t calculate the human misery and repair the broken hearts,” Joseph A. Califano Jr. wrote in his book High Society, “we can put dollar signs on some costs of substance abuse and addiction. In 2006, the financial bill was moving toward $1 trillion.”
Our approach is community-based and currently focused on Little Rock. We will expand to other communities using the Little Rock model when we have met our goals and as our resources permit.
There is widespread support for ODAT especially among those, many of them community leaders, who are active in recovery programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and related 12-Step programs along with church based programs like Celebrate Recovery. We also have ties with treatment centers, state government offices, drug courts and the prison system.
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Vision Statement
We envision a nation whose citizens recognize substance abuse as a major health problem and seek to eradicate the associated heartache of broken families, broken dreams and broken lives through a message of hope and recovery. |
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Mission Statement
Our mission is to reduce alcohol and drug abuse by promoting awareness, prevention and treatment availability in the following ways:
• as a catalyst for fundamental change in public attitudes towards substance abuse
• “putting a face” on the benefits of recovery
• implementing unique teen/young adult, military and prison outreach initiatives
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- Reducing substance abuse is a worthy cause. Substance abuse kills, sickens, disables, destroys marriages and families and imposes a huge financial burden on our economy. Some call it the number one health problem in the nation.
- Recovery is not just for alcoholics and drug addicts. There are many kinds of destructive addictions. Addiction is widespread and, by some definitions, universal (i.e. “sin” is an addiction and everybody sins).
- Substance abuse is implicated in major social problems. In 80 percent or more of prison populations as well as the ranks of the homeless, substance abuse is involved. The potential for reducing the cost in money and human suffering in these areas alone is huge.
- Recovery requires intense local involvement at family and community levels. Recovery begins with the individual, but it requires family and community involvement. National campaigns are fine but the real work is done at the local level.
- Education about addictions should begin early in the home. Teenagers whose parents talk to them regularly about the dangers of drugs are less likely to use drugs than those whose parents don’t, yet only one in four teens reports having these conversations.
- Recovery should be embraced, not feared. For those who achieve recovery, it is a door to freedom, restored relationships and a new purpose in life. It can also be fashionable and lots of fun.
- When substance abuse is reduced, communities benefit. In healthy communities, work forces become more productive, and costs associated with health care, crime, accidents, homelessness and incarceration go down. The RWJ Foundation “Fighting Back” project in Little Rock and other cities proved the point. And with every success, individuals and communities develop more courage and the will to act boldly.
- People who are informed are better able to deal with addictions. People who know about the scope and consequences of substance abuse, where to get help, how other people recover and about the availability of both secular and spiritual resources, have the best chance of avoiding or recovering from addictions and helping others.
- Our principal message is one of hope and recovery. We are a non-profit company (with tax-exempt status) and are supported by revenues from operations, grants and contributions. Our main mission is to change lives by reducing addictions and promoting recovery.
- Our mission of providing education on recovery is comprehensive. We seek not only to inform and encourage through a variety of media but also to participate by providing jobs, training, volunteer opportunities and by other activities.
- We seek to grow with the help of a variety of collaborations. Recovery itself is about relationships, and the quickest, most efficient and least costly path to our growth is through a variety of alliances, coalitions and other collaborations.
- Momentum is growing in the fight against substance abuse and other addictions. Churches and other faith-based institutions are increasingly confronting addictions of all kinds and offering programs of recovery. Universities are doing groundbreaking research. Hospitals and other caregivers are developing new treatments.
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We are engaged in a vital cause with readily perceived potential benefits. Today, we are involved in a growing list of collaborations and projects addressing: prison recidivism; addiction in colleges and universities; lack of treatment availability; and communities at risk. Today, we can report broadening community support and an expanding database of contributors who believe in our mission. During these difficult times we have a clean balance sheet and are actually adding to our payroll in the service of our mission. In the coming months, we expect to build on our central Arkansas presence and expand into other communities. As we contemplate the challenges ahead, we say, with all humility, “Bring it on!” |
One Day at a Time is a non-profit company governed by a board of directors operating under by-laws adopted in April 2006. The board meets the third Thursday of every month.
Board members include:
One Day at a Time is tax exempt under section 501 (c ) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are deductible under section 170 of the code.
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