Healthy Community Initiative

Three Rivers Community Action and Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) have exciting news to share about Mobile Home Rehabilitation efforts in Rice County. Three Rivers, with its robust housing and home energy and weatherization programs, is bringing the Mobile Home Rehabilitation Initiative under its umbrella of programs and will employ and provide support for the initiative’s coordinator.

The initiative had previously been part of Growing Up Healthy, an HCI-supported program. As of March 17, 2025, the Mobile Home Rehabilitation Coordinator, Jansen Gonzalez, became a Three Rivers employee, and all referrals for mobile home rehabilitation will be routed through the Three Rivers staff.

“Three Rivers Community Action is thrilled to bring Rice County’s Mobile Home Rehab initiative under its umbrella. As a long-standing provider of housing programming in Rice County, we are equipped to provide infrastructure and foundational support that will attract continued resources to sustain the program and serve more families,” said Jenny Larson, Executive Director of Three Rivers Community Action. “HCI and Growing Up Healthy have done a phenomenal job incubating this vital program, and we are excited to collaborate with our communities to continue to meet the need long into the future.”

Growing Up Healthy Director Jennyffer Barrientos said she and other program staff were eager to take on the mobile home initiative when it was first developed because they could see firsthand the number of families who needed the support.

“We are grateful to the partners who believed in our ability to launch the initiative and offered funding and technical support. And we are so glad that Three Rivers will carry on this work of ensuring all our community’s kids have safe, stable housing here in Rice County,” she said. 

The Mobile Home Rehabilitation Initiative grew out of efforts years ago by Growing Up Healthy and community partners to assist mobile home residents in preparing their homes for winter through actions including installation of heat tape around water pipes, insulating and making repairs to leaky windows, and installing energy-efficient light bulbs and thermostats. Growing Up Healthy staff also helped residents connect to Three Rivers’ weatherization program.

During the early days of the pandemic, when school was shifted to online learning, school leaders, teachers, and community partners realized that some children’s home environments included barriers to health and safety that extended beyond basic weatherization needs. This, and a lack of contractors and professionals able or willing to work on mobile homes, led to the creation of the Mobile Home Rehabilitation Initiative.

Growing Up Healthy agreed to pilot the launch of the initiative’s coordinator role, with the expectation that it would continue to work with partners to determine a long-term home for the position.

Community partners that came together in this effort included Growing Up Healthy, Three Rivers Community Action, the City of Faribault, the City of Northfield, Rice County Housing, Neighbors United, Rice County Habitat for Humanity, Hosanna Church, the Community Action Center, Northfield Public Schools, and HCI.

For more information about the initiative, visit https://www.threeriverscap.org/energy/mobile-home-rehabilitation-program/ or call 507-316-0610.