Healthy Community Initiative

By Tom Steinmetz as a Guest Columnist for the Northfield News My first six months as the Executive Director of Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) have been a patchwork of highs, lows, and everything in between. Saturday, June 14, was no different. My emotions ranged from heartbreak to heartwarming. As Minnesotans mourned the tragic murders of Representative […]

HCI staff from a variety of programs and systems change initiatives attended the WINGS 2025 grant celebration on June 16 at the Northfield Community Resource Center. Representatives from TORCH, Growing Up Healthy, Northfield Community College Collaborative, and Youth Engagement provided information on the important services being supported in part by WINGS. Jen Barrientos, manager of […]

HCI Network Impact Coordinators Ashley Gardner and Emily Culver and the RAVE student leadership team joined other passionate youth advocates from across the Twin Cities at the RAVE Youth Summit in Minneapolis last week — coming together to support Reduction and Awareness of Vaping and E-Cigarette use. Gardner said the youth members left the summit […]

The horrific shootings of State Representative Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark, State Senator John Hoffman, and his wife Yvette, have left us saddened and shaken. Violence has no place in our community. We send the Hortman family our condolences and join people across Minnesota in grieving a strong leader and champion for youth voice and […]

By Martha Lundin as a Guest Columnist for the Northfield News For the last four years, I worked with high school students as Healthy Community Initiative’s youth engagement coordinator. I am a youth worker. I became a youth worker by accident. Accident in the way that I did not aspire in high school to become a […]

Diplomas, scholarships, college acceptances — seniors in the TORCH program had many reasons to celebrate in the final weeks and months of their education at Northfield Public Schools. Thirty two out of the 33 TORCH seniors graduated on time with the Class of 2025, for a 97% graduation rate! TORCH Senior Manager Tessa Kiesow said […]

A new childcare center opened in Faribault last week, marking the result of a year-long partnership between Healthy Community Initiative and Faribault Cares. Little Scholars Academy will serve 77 children from infant to school-age. It’s located at 550 Wilson Avenue and is the second Faribault location for Little Scholars, which also has a facility at […]

Cheers to Growing Up Healthy! The HCI program recently received a Seed Coalition 2025 Presidents’ Community Partner Award, which celebrates individuals and organizations who have meaningfully improved a community’s quality of life through collaboration with a college or university. Growing Up Healthy was nominated by Seed Coalition member St. Olaf College. Seed Coalition consists of 40+ […]

Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) is celebrating National Prevention Week (May 11-17) by recognizing the efforts of local prevention champions. The Rice County Chemical and Mental Health Coalition recently presented 2025 Prevention Champion awards to David Aase, principal broker and founder of Revival Commercial Real Estate; Gabbie Carlander, Community School Coordinator at Faribault High School; Daryl […]

The Northfield Community College Collaborative is an HCI program that offers in-person and online community college classes, tutoring, career planning assistance, and other support to anyone who has graduated from high school or has a GED. Sign up now for summer and fall classes! Summer Session: 4-Week Global Studies Course! The deadline for summer registration […]