[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 71 (Friday, June 9, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E960]]
 CONGRATULATIONS TO MELVA JONES, ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION AWARD 
                               RECIPIENT

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                        HON. ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, June 9, 2000

  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today to congratulate a 
remarkable woman, Melva Jones, who was recently chosen as one of only 
ten people nationally to receive the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's 
Community Health Leader award. The award is considered the nation's 
highest honor for community health leadership and includes a $100,000 
grant to help further her work.
  Ms. Jones is the director of the Mattie B. Uzzle Outreach Center in 
Baltimore, which provides street outreach to help people with substance 
abuse problems get treatment, counseling, food, clothing, and emergency 
funds. The center, which is located in a neighborhood with one of the 
state's highest substance abuse rates, also offers housing, job 
referrals, free testing for HIV, and community education programs on 
drug-related issues.
  Ms. Jones, who is a native of my district in Baltimore, gave up a 
lucrative nursing administration career to help found the center in 
1994 after watching drug abuse transform a once-thriving neighborhood 
into streets of boarded up houses. The center is a ``neighbor'' to 
residents in this community and has steered more than 2,500 people into 
drug treatment programs since its inception. It also boasts a forty-
five percent recovery rate, which is 10 percent higher than the 
national average.
  With her hands-on approach, Ms. Jones has been instrumental to the 
success of the program. A visible force in the neighborhood every day, 
she serves as a welcome sight to a community that is all too familiar 
with the horrors of drug addition up close. With a reputation for 
persistence and tough love, she makes regular rounds to find people in 
need and coax them into treatment.
  Mr. Speaker, Melva Jones has demonstrated true leadership by 
addressing one of the most difficult problems in our community and it 
comes as no surprise that she was selected for this distinguished 
award. Although much more needs to be accomplished in the fight against 
substance abuse, in Baltimore and across the United States, it is a 
comfort to know that there are people like Ms. Jones on the street, 
working every day.

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