On September 6th 2018, the Arizona Community Foundation Names SEAHEC Nonprofit of the Year and awards $3,555 grant through the Cochise fund.
“We are so grateful for this recognition. The work we do helps farmworkers and their children, one of the most vulnerable populations in the county. The funds from the ACF, Legacy and others, has supported our work to help Winchester Heights community members create a true sense of community. Now children have a safe place to play and residents have a dignified place to meet. The new community center will enable them to organize and plan activities and educational events. How exciting! Thank you so much!” -Gail Emrick, SEAHEC Executive Director Continue reading
Winchester Heights Children now have a playground and basketball court, within walking distance of everyone in the community.
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When she was five years old, Vanessa Valenzuela Castillo, a Willcox High School junior, stood by helplessly while her neighbors’ house burned down, killing two family members. This tragedy inspired her to join SEAHEC’s Healthy Farms community health worker team in Winchester Heights. The youngest member of the team, Vanessa dreams of a time when she and her neighbors will be equipped to prevent similar tragedies through increased knowledge and resources sufficient to prevent and respond to emergencies. On Saturday, August 18th, SEAHEC, partners and Winchester Heights residents celebrated the inauguration of the new Winchester Heights Community Center and the I “Heart” Children Burris Memorial Park. The community center will be a hub for recruitment and training of residents to address long-standing health and safety issues caused by lack of public infrastructure. It is part of a landmark public health initiative to model a rural development strategy with community health workers at its heart. SEAHEC has worked with the Winchester Heights community since 2008, when SEAHEC public health intern, Christy Trimmer Boland, M.P.H, published research that revealed egregious health disparities faced by farmworkers in the US. Winchester Heights is a community of approximately 600 people, the majority of whom are… Continue reading
SEAHEC’s Future Health Leaders Program expansions are providing new opportunities for Pima County students. Recently, SEAHEC signed an agreement with Ajo High School, in Ajo, Arizona, a rural community southwest of Tucson, to operate a high school based health career club there. During the year a total of 17 Ajo high school students were recruited as FHL members and the youth participating in the health career club received health career preparation activities including guest speakers, participation in health-related community projects, and touring of academic institutions to motivate them in their pursuit of future health careers, and assistance in the preparation of college applications and financial assistance. A summary of these activities includes: Recruitment and training of a High School staff member and a local community health center staff member to be on-site health career club facilitators. On November 1st, 16 students took their CPR and First Aid class with local fire fighters from Ajo Fire Department. On December 6th the Ajo FHL club had a Medical Technician as guest speaker During FALL semester, the 17 Ajo FHL student club members conducted a community food drive enabling them to provide food for meals for needy families for Thanksgiving. On January, 2018,… Continue reading
