Healthy Community Initiative

October is Substance Use & Misuse Prevention Month and we’re highlighting stories from our community! Sharing your experiences, reflections, and journeys is a powerful way to inspire others and we’d love to hear them. If you have something you’d like to share, please email ashley@healthycommunityinitiative.org. How did I get here? I asked myself this question […]

Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) recently received a $72,980 grant from the Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) to fund Sound and Sight Explorers, a new project to support 1,000+ youth in Rice County with no-cost art and music exploration experiences. Youth involved in PRIMEtime programming, HCI’s out of school time network initiative, are expected to benefit from […]

In honor of Student Parent Month 2025, the Minnesota Department of Health shared the following story from Naidine Villa, who recently completed her associate degree with support from the Northfield Community College Collaborative (NCCC). Read more about her experience at the NCCC in an article she wrote for the Northfield News last year, and read […]

By Ashley Gardner as a Guest Columnist for the Faribault Daily News September is National Recovery Month, and at Healthy Community Initiative we are celebrating both the power of recovery and the harm reduction work that’s been accomplished through the efforts of the Rice County Chemical and Mental Health Coalition (RCCMHC). Here are some highlights of […]

You’re Invited! Join us on Thursday, Sept. 11, for an evening of charity drag bingo benefiting HCI at Roxy’s Cabaret in downtown Minneapolis. Enjoy a lively night out and help us raise some money to support HCI’s programming! This is a perfect event for you to share your support of HCI with friends, family, and community members, […]

We are devastated and mourning following yet another horrific mass shooting in which two children were murdered and 18 other people were critically injured. Our hearts are with the Annunciation Church families and congregation as they grieve this incomprehensible tragedy.  Students may be feeling anxious and afraid, and parents may be wondering what to do […]

Officials from the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) visited multiple early childhood and family support sites in Rice County on Aug. 12 to hear directly from providers, district staff, and community partners – including Healthy Community Initiative – about the challenges and opportunities they are navigating. The tour included stops at a […]

By Emily Culver as a Guest Columnist for the Northfield News Writing this, I have had the pleasure of supporting the efforts of the Northfield Racial and Ethnic Equity Collaborative (NREEC) Housing Work Group for nearly one year. This group includes representatives from Habitat for Humanity, Three Rivers Community Action, Community Action Center, Northfield Union […]

The Rice County Chemical and Mental Health Coalition presented a special Prevention Champion award on July 30 to Lynn James, who is retiring from the Northfield Police Department. James has been the point person for Northfield’s participation in the Take It To The Box program since it launched in 2009. The collaborative drug take-back effort […]

The Rice County Chemical and Mental Health Coalition (RCCMHC) is launching a new effort to crowdsource information about the use of Narcan during an overdose. The RCCMHC and the Mobile Opioid Support Team (MOST) have placed 71 Narcan boxes at locations throughout Rice County. Each box contains four free Narcan kits.  If you have used […]