STARKVILLE, Miss. -- A Mississippi State University Extension Service mental health campaign continues to receive national recognition, this time from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The PROMISE Initiative was awarded the National Innovative Programs and Projects Partnership Award from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

PROMISE stands for Preventing Opioid Misuse In the SouthEast. It is an initiative formed through a cooperative agreement between MSU Extension and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Launched in 2017, the campaign addresses drug abuse in the state’s agricultural community and combats mental health issues producers face.

The campaign also received the Southern Distinguished Team award from Epsilon Sigma Phi -- a nationwide organization for Extension professionals -- during the organization’s annual national conference in 2020.

Led by MSU Extension state health specialist David Buys, the PROMISE team earned Mental Health First Aid certification before teaching the curriculum to more than 600 people. More than $3 million in awarded competitive grant funding supported the education campaign.

To promote the campaign to the public, the group also delivered presentations to more than 50 local, state, regional and national audiences and worked with the MSU Extension Office of Agricultural Communications and the Social Science Research Center to produce media messaging.