Sheboygan Outreach Collective partnered with the Hmong Mutual Assistance Association (HMAA) for the second year to present a family resource fair at the Hmong Summer Festival. The HMAA generously waives the individual vendor fee for our participating organizations, which include Lakeshore Community Health, ADRC, Lakeshore CAP, League of Women Voters, Above & Beyond Children’s Museum, Sheboygan County Department of Health Bilingual Community Health Workers, Habitat for Humanity, Safe Harbor, and more. Free health screenings, which were well utilized by festival attendees last year, were provided again this year thanks to Lakeshore Community Health. At least ten people had a free health screening with Lakeshore Community Health; twenty asked about home safety programs at the Lakeshore CAP booth, and thirty people stopped at the Sheboygan Abortion Access booth. Other counts have not been provided by guest orgs to Extension at time of this report. Our next event will be Back to School Night at Farnsworth School in late August. Lisa Sanderson thanks the County Extension Committee for member individuals’ generous offer to support lunch for a second annual Youth Government Day event. “Thank You!” capacity to respond to this crisis and identified Mental Health America as a partner. Increasing positive culture in school communities and helping youth to destigmatize and normalize informed discussions of mental health topics are goals of the Mental Health America Student Mental Health Ambassadors program. Mental Health America staff are engaged in establishing this group at area high schools. Lisa Sanderson will partner with those staff and school counseling staff to build youth capacity to be Youth Mental Health Ambassadors. This program focuses on supporting youth-facilitated discussions of youth mental health topics and youth ideas for mental health advocacy. A group of South High youth and the school social worker met with us to discuss establishing this program. Youth will take training at the end of the summer. Other Sheboygan area schools have been identified as potential partners by Mental Health America.
