Gordon Clay here. We know that 46% of Curry infants are born to single women. That fewer than 70% of our young men graduated from high school last year. And an inordinate number of Brookings-Harbor students have problems with drug, alcohol, and prescription drug abuse. Quality education has a lot to do with this.

With city, county, state and federal service reductions continuing, the future of our community depends on immediate, evidence based action!

There's a new group in town that could help. It's called Curry Healthy Communities and is a collaboration between the Curry County Health and Human Services, the Curry Health Network, and local educational systems, businesses and community organizations.

The goal is to unite citizens, organizations and businesses to create a warm, more welcoming place for people of all ages to live, learn, work and play. The plan is to analyze the needs and then develop and support action plans for community improvement.

It is my hope that the citizens of Brookings-Harbor will become fully involved with this organization, to provide input on the current and future needs of our city and county and what steps we can take to make full use of these free resources and additional funding opportunities.

Let's bring our schools up to at least average in math, science, reading and writing, improve our graduation rates, and make our schools safe from harassment as soon as possible.

If you are concerned about our city and student's future, get involved in the Curry Healthy Communities initiatives. Call 541-247-3234 today. That's 541-247-3234.