City Council Authorized an Agreement with CoolxDad

BAYTOWN – On Thursday, an ordinance was considered, authorizing an agreement with CoolxDad Inc. to lead Baytown’s fatherhood initiative.

In 2020, states across the country began suing major pharmaceutical companies and their distributors for their role in marketing and distributing opioids that have resulted in addictions and overdoses. In October 2021, the City of Baytown officially became a participant in the state’s lawsuit, and as such became a recipient of the subsequent settlement funds.  

In March 2023, as cities across the nation started receiving the funds, staff began meeting to discuss how Baytown might best use the settlement money. With advice from our two chiefs and several directors, the committee decided to spend the money on addressing the route cause of opioid and drug abuse, which many times can be traced to the home. In September, the National Fatherhood Initiative was selected to facilitate a project to increase father involvement and reduce the possibility of father absence in the lives of children in Baytown. 

The program had three phases: the needs and asset assessment, the leadership summit, and the action plan.  

First, NFI came to town and learned all it could about the challenge. What does drug abuse look like in Baytown? What programs exist to help those struggling with abuse? And how are absent fathers contributing to opioid and drug usage in Baytown?  

Next, in August, we held a leadership summit with those in the community who have a passion for this project in order to start the process of creating a Baytown-specific action plan.

Finally, in January, NFI helped us develop a short and long term community action plan, specific to Baytown, for how we will affect positive change with the goal of reducing drug use among young people.  

Missing so far in this process has been the identification of a lead agency who could sustain this program long-term, and implement the objectives in the action plan. The city’s role has been to facilitate the launch of this program, convene the key stakeholders, and transition the program to an organization best positioned to manage the efforts.

Today, the City of Baytown has in its possession a Community Action Plan. This plan was developed based on research from NFI, which included interviews, data mining, and focus groups in Baytown; and based on objectives created by the advisory committee assigned to each of the 11 industry sectors, like healthcare, education, and philanthropy. 

This action plan has a series of activities assigned to committee members, with deadlines and ways to measure success. This plan identifies objectives and activities aimed at aiding the launch and maintenance of the Baytown Fatherhood Initiative, from an administrative perspective.

The last remaining missing piece from this whole initiative thus far is the lead agency. Success of this initiative, and ultimately to increasing support for responsible fatherhood, and decreasing crime and drug use among young people, lies in selecting a lead agency who can now take the baton and build programming in Baytown to serve dads and families.  

This action adopts the action plan and work program as CoolxDad’s Scope of Work, and also dedicates the remaining Opioid Settlement revenue to CoolxDad.