The West Virginia University and Greater Morgantown Safe Communities Initiative will receive formal recognition from the National Safety Council at 4 p.m. June 20, in a ceremony at the Courtyard Marriott of Morgantown.

Forty-five local groups worked together over the last three years to identify specific risks to the community, began planning an approach for safety improvements and drafted the application for recognition.

Carrie Nie of the National Safety Council, the director of Safe Communities America�, will present the community with its accreditation documents.

Monongalia County Commission President Eldon Callen, Morgantown Mayor Marti Shamberger, and WVU President E. Gordon Gee are scheduled to take part, along with many of the participating community groups.

“Morgantown is the first ‘Safe Community’ to be a collaboration between a city, a county and a university,” said Dan Shook, director of the local program. “The WVU and Greater Morgantown Safe Communities Initiative is currently working on reducing alcohol use among WVU students, preventing drug overdose deaths by training and equipping first responders with naloxone, an antidote that reverses an opioid overdose and helping community members find treatment for depression and suicide risk.”

A short pre-game ceremony at the Monongalia County Ballpark is planned to recognize the newly accredited Safe Community at approximately 6:45 p.m., just before the West Virginia Black Bears take on the Batavia Muckdogs.

Note to media: Several of the participants in Safe Communities will be available at the Courtyard Marriott for interviews at 3:30 p.m. prior to this event. Please contact Sheena Sayres at the WVU Injury Control Research Center if you have questions.

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CONTACT: Sheena Sayres, MPH, Public Health Outreach Specialist, WVU Injury Control Research Center Office: 304.293.1528, ssayres@hsc.wvu.edu

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