HOOPESTON — Prairie Center Health Systems Inc. and WILL AM-FM-TV at the University of Illinois are being recognized for a project to develop an action plan to address the needs of teenagers in Hoopeston.

The two groups won the Exceptional Rural Program Award presented by the National Rural Alcohol & Drug Abuse Network Inc.

The award, part of the Harold E. Hughes Awards of Excellence competition, is given annually to a rural program that exemplifies outstanding contribution to the rural alcohol and drug abuse field.

“I think we helped the young people and the community leaders realize that there was hope,” said Betty Seidel, Prairie Center director of development, “that they could create more positive opportunities for their youth, for their future leaders.”

WILL and Prairie Center set up a series of town meetings with adults and youth in conjunction with WILL-TV’s airing of the PBS documentary series “Country Boys” in spring 2006. The documentary examined the lives of two teenage boys trying to overcome the poverty and family dysfunction of their childhood in rural America.

This series brought the youth of Hoopeston and adults together in the fall of 2006 for a teen-led community-wide town hall meeting organized by the teens and attended by about 65 residents.

The students challenged the adult audience to help them find more recreational outlets, more part-time employment, more mentoring and ways students could have a say in the community.

Hoopeston teens and adults both raised the issue of substance abuse as a major concern.

Tom Rogers, WILL-AM news director, examined the challenges faced by Hoopeston teens in a series of reports on WILL-AM 580 News.

The result of these meetings during a period of two years resulted in the formation of the Mayor’s Youth Council, which gave students a voice in the community, an in-school mentoring program through Big Brothers Big Sisters in which 20 high school students and one adult are acting as mentors, and a teen center located at the Multi-Agency on First Avenue and Main Street, which provides an alcohol-free and drug-free place for teens to gather and listen to music, talk and dance on a Friday or Saturday night.

“This award is another acknowledgement of the good work we did together with the youth of Hoopeston, the adults who support them and the Prairie Center Health Systems,” said Kimberlie Kranich, director of community engagement at WILL.

“WILL is proud to have been one catalyst for change that led to one-on-one mentoring of elementary school children by high school students in Hoopeston as well as the establishment of the Mayor’s Youth Council. WILL strives to be more than a broadcaster. We want to be part of your community in a personal and meaningful way.”

WILL and Prairie Center Health Systems, Inc. plan to partner again in Georgetown to set up town meetings for youth and adults, according to Seidel, with hopefully the same results as in Hoopeston. Seidel added they probably will involve Hoopeston leaders and students in the process at Georgetown.