A four-year case for community-based training that reaches the people already in the room — before a crisis becomes a tragedy.
01 · The Headline
Every person who completes Mental Health First Aid becomes a node. A teacher who now recognizes warning signs. A nurse who can de-escalate before a code. A faith leader whose congregation trusts her — and who now has the skills to act on that trust.
Franklin County doesn't call a hotline first. It calls a neighbor, a pastor, a school counselor. NAMI FC has been training those people since 2022 — and the network is still growing.
"You are not funding a training program. You are building a first-responder network without a badge — present in every school, clinic, and congregation in this county."
Annual training completions · 2022–2026
Gold bar = 2025 record. Projected 2026 bar = annualized from Jan–Feb actuals (49 trained). Source: NAMI FC Dashboards 2022–2026.
02 · The Workforce Story
76%, 83%, 84%, 82% — four consecutive years of the same signal. NAMI FC is reaching teachers, school counselors, nurses, social workers, faith leaders, home health aides. The people who carry mental health support in this community before any formal system does.
One trained school counselor reaches every student in her building. One trained faith leader reaches an entire congregation. The multiplier is compounding. This is not a training count. It is a force multiplier deployed in the field.
Gender composition — 4-year consistency
03 · The Equity Story
In 2025, participants split nearly down the middle between Black and Caucasian community members — 110 vs. 109 people. That near-parity is the result of four years of intentional trust-building in a field where mental health services persistently fail Black communities.
62% of 2025 participants identified as people of color. The program does not serve the path of least resistance — the data proves it.
"The mental health equity gap closes when communities of color are centered from the start — not reached as an afterthought."
2026 early signal
In Jan–Feb 2026, Hispanic participants = 16% of those trained — more than double the 2025 full-year rate of 6.9%. The community reach is deepening, not plateauing.
Racial/ethnic composition · 2022–2025
Demographics reflect self-reported race/ethnicity per year. Source: NAMI FC Dashboards 2022–2025.
04 · Operational Maturity
In 2025, the lowest training period was 38 participants (July–August). The highest: 69 (March–April). Standard deviation of just 10 across six delivery windows. No dead months. Stable facilitators. A pipeline that does not depend on one funder or one event.
Demand-driven expansion is the most credible story a program can tell — and this data tells it without equivocation.
2025 delivery by bi-monthly period
Lowest: Jul–Aug 38 · Highest: Mar–Apr 69 · Std dev = 10. No period below 38 — consistent year-round delivery confirmed across all 4 years.
05 · The Opportunity
What NAMI Franklin County's MHFA data demonstrates is rare: a program that has already solved the hardest problems. It reaches communities of color not as a goal but as a track record. It delivers consistently not as a promise but as four unbroken years of evidence. It grows because the community keeps showing up.
Your investment does not create the momentum. It accelerates what is already moving.
The 863rd person trained will be a teacher, a nurse, a pastor, a neighbor — carrying skills into a community that has not historically had access to this kind of preparation. One more node in a network that saves lives.
Data: NAMI FC Dashboards 2021–2026 · Analysis: Measurement Ally · May 2026