A county-wide coalition for prevention, recovery, and wellness.
State-designated
Indiana Local Coordinating CouncilSince 1989
Serving Starke County for 35+ yearsSPF-driven
Strategic Prevention FrameworkData-led
Local surveys & focus groups
Thirty-five years, same mission.
“Prevention isn’t something you do to a community. It’s something a community does for itself — and we’ve spent 35 years helping Starke County do exactly that.”
— The Hub Coalition
1989
Founded
Established as Starke County's Local Coordinating Council to lead local prevention.SPF
A framework, not a fad
Adopted the Strategic Prevention Framework to ground every decision in local data.Today
A full coalition
Members, committees, and partners spanning schools, health, law enforcement, and families.Ahead
Built to last
Focused on sustainability — prevention that outlives any single grant cycle.
What we do, and why it's structured this way.
Hub Coalition Starke County addresses substance use disorder, mental health and wellness, and the unintended consequences that ripple out from them. Rather than importing a one-size-fits-all program, we use the Strategic Prevention Framework to understand our own county first — then act on what the evidence shows.
That means assessing local conditions, building the community’s capacity to respond, choosing evidence-based programs and policies, evaluating honestly within a culturally competent framework, and planning for sustainability well beyond any single grant cycle.
- Substance use prevention
- Mental health & wellness
- Recovery support
- Reducing harm & consequences
The Strategic Prevention Framework.
Assessment
We collect data through county-wide surveys and focus groups to understand local conditions — what's actually happening in Starke County, for whom, and why — before deciding on any response.
Capacity
We build the community's ability to do prevention work: recruiting partners, training people, and strengthening the relationships and resources that make sustained effort possible.
Planning
We select evidence-based programs, practices, and policies matched to what the assessment revealed — and lay out a clear Community Action Plan for putting them to work.
Implementation
We put the plan into action across the county — in schools, workplaces, and community settings — through our programs, committees, and partners.
Evaluation
We measure our efforts within a culturally competent framework, learn what's working, and feed those findings back into the cycle — with an eye on sustainability beyond any grant.
The table it takes to move a county.
No single agency can prevent substance use on its own. The coalition works because it brings every sector that touches a family’s life into the same room — each contributing expertise, reach, and resources the others don’t have.
Membership is open and free to any organization or resident serving Starke County.
- Schools & educators
- Healthcare providers
- Law enforcement
- Social service agencies
- Faith communities
- Local businesses
- Nonprofits
- Youth groups
- Families & residents
How we read the county.
County-wide surveys
We survey across Starke County to measure attitudes, behaviors, and risk and protective factors — the numbers behind the need.
Community focus groups
We sit down with residents to hear the story the data can’t tell on its own — local context, in local voices.
Culturally competent evaluation
We assess our own efforts honestly and in context, so what we fund and run is measured against real outcomes, not good intentions.
A small team, deeply local.
The day-to-day work of the coalition is carried by a lean staff who know Starke County and the families in it.
Local community members gather at the Hub Coalition Starke County event to discuss regional development. Executive DirectorDawn Pelc
Leads the coalition’s strategy, partnerships, and grant stewardship across the county.
