Sep 1997: New England Institute for Addiction Studies (NEIAS) makes seed money available.

Nov 1997: First Connecticut Recovering Community Organization meeting held.

Dec 1997: First New England Alliance for Addiction Recovery (NEAAR) training held.

Feb 1998: Second NEAAR training held. First NEAAR organizational meeting held.

Mar 1998: The name "Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery" officially chosen.

CCAR Mission Statement adopted.

Apr 1998: CCAR Vision Statement adopted.

Jun 1998: Connecticut State Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) Conference held where five CCAR members spoke.

Second NEAAR organizational meeting held.

Third NEAAR training held.

Sep 1998: CCAR mailing list tops 100.

CCAR receives Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) grant.

NEAAR receives CSAT grant.

Oct 1998: CCAR holds first training - "Science and History of Addiction"

Twelve-course training curriculum approved.

Nov 1998: CCAR holds second training - "Community Mobilization - Becoming a Change Agent"

Dec 1998: All CSAT grantees meet in Washington, DC.

CCAR has 1-800 number activated.

NEAAR holds training on producing a recovery video.

Jan 1999: Governor Rowland proclaims September as CT Alcohol and Drug Recovery Month.

CCAR Associate Director hired.

CCAR office opened.

Feb 1999: CCAR makes first appearance at State Legislature.

Administrative Assistant hired.

CCAR holds first Working Session on Organizational Structure.

Mar 1999: CCAR hosts first Legislative Day at Legislative Office Building.

CCAR comments on DMHAS Grievance Procedure.

CCAR holds second Working Session on Organizational Structure.

Apr 1999: First Focus Group held with Concerned Citizens for Humanity (CCfH) to initiate poster project.

CCAR begins work on its' organizational structure.

Planning begins with THE CENTER for September 1999 Conference "In Celebration of Recovery!"

May 1999: NEAAR holds retreat to begin work on its' organizational structure.

Planning begins to produce video.

Jun 1999: CCAR unanimously approves first slate of officers.

22 members plus the CCAR Associate Director attend the weeklong New England School of Addiction Studies at St. Michael's College in Colchester, VT.

Jun 1999: CCAR presents at the First Annual CT Conference on Cultural Competency, "The Building Blocks of Multiculturalism" a workshop entitled "Multicultural Support Services By and For People in Recovery".

5 CCAR members, the Project Director and Associate Director attend a CSAT conference in Arlington, VA for all Recovering Community Support Program (RCSP) grantees.

Jul 1999: CCAR holds first board meeting.

15 CCAR members speak out at a CSAT public hearing "Changing the Conversation, A National Plan to Improve Substance Abuse Treatment" in Hartford, CT.

CCAR begins incorporation process.

CCAR meets with consultant to explore alternative funding sources.

Aug 1999: CCAR membership meets to discuss DMHAS reorganization.

CCAR begins meeting with other state agencies.

Sep 1999: CCAR Project Director presents in Nevada on how to organize the recovering community.
6000 "Recovery" posters delivered.

CCAR hosts first annual "In Celebration of Recovery!" conference in East Hartford, CT featuring 8 different workshops and attracting 140 participants.

Recovery video produced by Jim Mattingly of Digital Media Group unveiled at conference.

Oct 1999: CCAR participates in New England School of Addiction Studies 2000 planning.

2 CCAR members, Project Director and Associate Director talk live on local morning radio program in Willimantic, CT.

First meeting with Advocacy Unlimited, Inc., a mental health advocacy group.

Nov 1999: CCAR receives 2 gubernatorial appointments to the DMHAS State Advisory Board.

CCAR works to have 5 other seats on the DMHAS State Advisory Board awarded to persons in recovery from addiction.

CCAR committees meet for the first time.

11 CCAR members attend NEAAR Policy Conference. The Project Director presents on Recovery Support Services.

The Project Director and Associate Director attend CSAT RSCP grantee conference in
Arlington, VA.

Dec 1999: CCAR submits a Concept Paper to CSAT on a September 2000 conference on Recovery Support Services.

Mar 2000: CCAR attends a national meeting on an addiction client bill of rights.

Jan 2000: CCAR is represented on a DMHAS Recovery House RFP evaluation committee.

CCAR, Advocacy Unlimited and the DMHAS Chief Operating Officer begin touring treatment facilities throughout the state.

Feb 2000: CCAR and Advocacy Unlimited, Inc., A Mental Health advocacy organization, co-present "Recovery Basic Premises and Recovery Core Values" to the Standing Committee of DMHAS.

The CD-ROM is used for the first time at a major presentation.

CCAR members speak to second-year medical students about recovery at the
Farmington Medical Center.

CCAR holds the Second Annual Legislative Day.

Apr 2000: 14 CCAR members attended the national CSAT conference "Working Together for Recovery: An RCSP Gathering" in Alexandria, VA.

CCAR presents a 3-hour workshop entitled "The Recovery Perspective - Beyond the Treatment Episode" at the national CSAT conference.

National Recovery Advocacy Organization begins to take root with CCAR members playing an active role.

CCAR staff serves as faculty at THE CENTER, presenting an expanded version of "The Recovery Perspective - Beyond the Treatment Episode" (6 hours).

CCAR begins a series of presentations, along with Mental Health advocates, to DMHAS staff and other behavioral health treatment facilities on "Recovery Basic Premises and Recovery Core Values".

27 CCAR members attend a New England Alliance for Addiction Recovery (NEAAR) conference in celebration of recovery at the Purity Springs Resort, NH.

May 2000: CCAR staff and one member were on Bridgeport radio to promote a support group for parents who have lost children to the disease of addiction.

CCAR announces the addition of three more Area Coordinators to staff.

Jun 2000: CCAR sends 26 people to the New England School of Addiction Studies (NESAS). This weeklong school was held at Eastern Connecticut State College in Willimantic, CT.

CCAR gives a Major Presentation at NESAS on Tuesday morning, "The Recovery Perspective - Beyond the Treatment Episode" and also serves as faculty for an 8-hour course under the same name. 3 CCAR members gave their personal stories during the course.

Since Connecticut was the state that hosted the school, DMHAS ordered 1000 CCAR CD-ROMs "Putting a Face on Recovery" that were distributed to the 700+ participants. Nearly 1400 CD-ROMs have been distributed to date.

Jul 2000: CCAR Training - Racism of the Well-Intended

Alexandre Laudet of the Institute for Treatment and Service Research at the National Development and Research Institute surveys CCAR Members.

Aug 2000: CCAR Area Coordinator applicants interviewed

CCAR Members meet with Judge Sweinton of Hartford Juvenile Drug Court. CCAR sat in on the evaluation meeting and one member volunteered to provide mentoring services to a Latino female. Exploration is ongoing to provide avenues for other CCAR members to be mentors.

CCAR Members and staff are guests on Fighting Back's one-hour TV Program "Street Beat" in New Haven. The show was chosen for repeat broadcasts.

CCAR Associate Director Phil Valentine testified in support of Recovery Housing at a highly charged hearing at the New London Zoning Board.

Sep 2000: CCAR Associate Director Phil Valentine and 3 other CCAR Members attend Sober in the Sun, a 3 day camping festival in Spencer, MA that attracted over 5000 persons in Recovery. CCAR set up a booth to promote advocacy and its upcoming events.

CCAR Members posed for the photograph for the third and final poster in the Recovery Poster series: "Harvesting the Fruits of Empowerment Being Clean and Sober."

On Sunday, Sept. 17 CCAR hosted its first annual walk - Recovery Walks! at Bushnell Park in Hartford. About 700 people marched three times around the park. Best estimates indicate that over 1500 people were directly involved in the event and $16,000 was raised for future advocacy efforts.

CCAR Training - Slaying the Dragon- Bill White, renowned author of Slaying the Dragon, the History of Addiction Treatment & Recovery in America" gave a daylong presentation to 80 CCAR members and invited guests.

The first edition of The Recovery Herald was published and distributed to over 6500 people. This will be a quarterly publication.

CCAR submits the official forms to the IRS for 501C3 status.

Nov 2000: Three Area Coordinators begin work with CCAR.

Jeff Blodgett of The Alliance Project offers CCAR members 6 hour training in "Use of the Media".

Dee Georgette, CCAR Member and a mother who lost her son to a heroin overdose in 1999 published an article in The New Haven Register about her desire to start a support group for parents who have experienced the same loss. The story generated several replies and Dee has been able to hold three meetings. She would like to expand "Legacies" to other areas of the state.

CCAR held its first Annual Meeting including, dinner, dancing and an awards ceremony. 112 people attended.

Dec 2000: Third CCAR Recovery Poster is released in an edition of 2000. The poster, offered free to the community, shows CCAR members working together in a community garden with the slogan: "Harvesting the seeds of empowerment…being clean and sober."

Jan 2001: Regional Initiative with Area Coordinators: During this quarter, all three Area Coordinators hosted the
first local CCAR Chapter meetings, Michael Askew in Stamford, Joey Petrello in Windsor and Diane Potvin in Windham. A total of seven new recovery advocacy meetings were held throughout the state.

CCAR staff delivered a 6-hour course to about 25 treatment professionals titled "The Recovery Perspective - Beyond the Treatment Episode".

CCAR members took an active role with speaking commitments at the NEAAR Policy Conference held in Andover, MA.

Feb 2001: 11 CCAR members testify at the Appropriations Committee Public Hearing on the DMHAS budget in support of more funding for recovery support services on a snowy Friday evening. Legislators, Department Commissioners and other agency personnel commented on the power of the CCAR presence at this hearing.

Filming and editing is completed on the one-hour recovery documentary "Putting a Face on Recovery".

CCAR members and staff attend and complete 5-day Multicultural Institute delivered by the DMHAS Office of Multicultural Affairs.

Project Director Bob Savage, Associate Director Phil Valentine, Advocacy Unlimited, Inc. Executive Director Yvette Sangster and DMHAS Consumer and Family Liaison Steve Fry, present "Recovery Basic Premises and Recovery Core Values" to the National Association of Mental Health Program Directors at their annual conference in Washington DC.

CCAR has significant breakthroughs with the media with several newspaper articles, television appearances and radio spots for example: Hartford Courant article by Susan Campbell, Connecticut Newsmakers, Street Beat, New Haven Register about Dee Georgette.

Mar 2001: CCAR hosts its third annual Legislative Day with grassroots members taking the lead by hosting, greeting and speaking. This year the number of legislators sponsoring more than doubled to 36. The attendance more than doubled to over 200. The overflow of people spilled out into the hallways. Passersby in the hallway peeked inside out of curiosity, telling us that laughter, shouts and applause ringing out from a legislative hearing room was rare indeed. CCAR Administrative Assistant Melissa Scheffey's son Nate, home on college break described himself as "blown away" by the experience.

CCAR has an active role in five informational forums across the state coinciding with the release of a DMHAS 6-year compendium on substance abuse, providing personal recovery stories to correlate with this groundbreaking report.

Apr 2001: Members were provided opportunity to participate and attend some significant events, the New England
School of Addiction Studies (NESAS) in Brunswick, ME; the CT Alcohol & Drug Policy Conference "Prevention, Treatment, Criminal Justice: Forging Partnerships for Substance Abuse Services"; the CSAT conference "Voices Making Choices, Communities Creating Change: An RCSP Gathering and Celebration"

The CCAR CD-ROM "Putting a Face on Recovery" was updated, finalized and packaged for distribution.

During this quarter we ran out of the original CD-ROM "Putting a Face on Recovery" (2000 were distributed nationwide).

CCAR is granted non-profit organization (501C3) status.

During this quarter we ran out of Recovery Posters (10,000 have been distributed nationwide).

The one-hour CCAR documentary "Putting A Face on Recovery" was shown at some local cable television stations across the state: 1000 videos ready for distribution.

CCAR website goes live.

Sep 2001: On a picture perfect Sunday, only five days after the terrorist attack on the United States, CCAR hosted the 2nd annual Recovery Walks! drawing over 2000 people in support of recovery from alcohol and other drug addiction. Organizers made a difficult decision to proceed with the walk
and it turned out to provide a much-needed time for grieving and healing. CCAR Area Coordinator Diane Potvin wrote,"Considering the events of September 11th and the Walk
today, recovering bodies to recovering lives, was almost too much for my heart to bear. God bless America…God bless those in and out of recovery.

Mar 2002: At the invitation of the Judiciary Committee of the CT State Legislature, CCAR provided an Informational
Forum on issues related to a felony conviction. As a result of non-violent, non-drug dealing actions during their addiction
period, some of our membership were arrested, convicted and sentenced as felons. They served their sentence, found recovery and have gone on to become conscientious citizens. Yet they continue to pay an ongoing penalty for an action that, in
many cases, took place many years ago. The record of a felony conviction hampers the recovery process in areas of work, housing, insurance, reclaiming children, seeking public office and obtaining student loans. We seek to help persons with sustained recovery and allow them the opportunity to become more fully functioning members of society.

July 2002: Recovery Speaks in the Shadow of 9/11. In response to a federal and state initiative, CCAR hosted a forum on trauma and recovery at Connecticut College in New
London that drew over 200 people.

Sep 2002: CCAR membership tops 2000.

Sep 2002: The 3rd Annual Recovery Walks! drew over 3000 people to Bushnell Park, in Hartford.

Jan 2003: Recovery Speaks in the Shadow of 9/11 was held in Golden Hill Church in Bridgeport, CT. Over 200 people attended this event.

May 2003: CCAR gave its first training from a "Recovery Training Series" in the Windham Chapter titled From Isolation to Transformation: Supporting Women's Recovery Issues. 35 people attended this training.