Description
Often a pioneer and forerunner in the field for the state and country, The Council recognized alcoholism as a disease eight years before the American Medical Association. As early as 1952, several of the Committee’s founding members were instrumental in establishing the Texas Commission on Alcoholism (now the Texas Department of State Health Services, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services).
In 1959 the Committee obtained a state charter, becoming the Dallas Council on Alcoholism. In the 1960s, The Council recognized a disturbing societal trend and expanded its mission to include other drug abuse as well.
Over the years, The Council has responded to increasing community needs, focusing on larger target populations and widening our scope of collaborative, evidence-based initiatives. Recognizing a strong cause-and-effect linkage between substance abuse and HIV, The Council added HIV street outreach and HIV case management services in the 1990’s.
For almost seven decades, The Council has served as the foremost community-based organization in North Texas offering substance abuse prevention and intervention services. Our work has received accolades and awards, coverage by national publications, and inclusion in the Congressional Record.
But most importantly, since opening its doors in 1946, millions of North Texans have been reached, changed and/or saved from the #1 preventable health problem in the United States - substance abuse.
