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In recent years, public health professionals and the broader community have begun to recognize that economic and social conditions have an impact on overall health outcomes. These conditions are referred to as Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) and they are impacting our community in significant ways. Factors such as income, education and occupation all play into Beacon Community’s Impact four priority areas:
Maintaining a healthy weight can help reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Research shows that a healthy weight and staying active can also improve overall mood and well-being.
Our Healthy Family priority focuses on programming that improves maternal and child health outcomes, and fosters positive family relationships.
This priority encompasses a wide range of programming aimed at reducing substance misuse in alcohol, illicit drugs, prescription drugs and tobacco.
We recognize that mental health issues need increased acknowledgement within our community.
Community Partners
In order to address SDOH, Beacon Community Impact partners with organizations in Elkhart, Marshall and Saint Joseph Counties who are tackling issues of food insecurity, housing, safety or economic stability. Our goal is to tackle these issues upstream so that our partners who are working downstream, directly serving individuals with certain health factors, are more likely to succeed.
Current and future partners who are working to address SDOH see the value in holistic approaches that improve health. Their work is complementary to the work done by clinics, educators and peer supporters. By continuing to provide support for organizations like the ones below, Beacon Community Impact hopes to see sustainable change that supports the health and wellbeing of the whole community.
- For over 20 years, the Center for Healing & Hope has provided medical and advocacy services in a Christ-like manner to meet peoples’ needs
- Cultivate’s backpack program provides six nutritious meals made from rescued food to elementary students over the weekend. These meals supplement the 68 hour gap
- Programming: Provide a mobile exam unit that will screen students in the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 8th grades (4,000+ students annually). The unit will
- In 2020, the Health Improvement Alliance of St. Joseph County developed an educational curriculum to recruit, train, and promote health equity in organizations throughout
- Creating coach and parent workshop curricula that addresses specific health and mental health issues needed to support the youth participating in the sport programs.
- Provides home visits and education around asthma to families with uncontrolled asthma. 2019-2020 Partner
- PFC-SJC is a collaboration among youth-serving agencies in St. Joseph county that helps identify youth with emotional or behavioral health issues earlier, gets them
- Ribbon of Hope offers a variety of practical services to assist patients and family members diagnosed with Cancer including transportation to and from doctor’s
- Established in 1974, South Bend Heritage Foundation, Inc. (SBH) is a not-for-profit Community Development Corporation (CDC) that is committed to the stabilization and enhancement
- In 2021, United Way of Saint Joseph County was awarded a grant to complete their Self-Healing Communities project in an effort to address Adverse
Beacon Community Impact Programs
In addition to our externally funded partners, Beacon Community Impact provides the following programming within our SDOH Priority, including:
- This program is lead by certified community health workers who work with children with asthma and their families to learn about asthma and medication,
