Kris Igo to head the OSHII team

Kristine Igo has been hired as the new Director of the Office of Statewide Health Improvement Initiatives. She starts her job at MDH on March 21.

Igo comes to MDH from the University of Minnesota, currently serving as the Associate Director  - Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute, where she has served since 2009.  

Igo's accomplishments include co-chairing the Food Access Summit Planning committee in 2015 and 2017; participating in writing the USDA sponsored ESCOP Science Roadmap for Food and Agriculture; leading a multi-stakeholder University-Community working group to develop a food skills assessment tool for Minnesota-based food skills educators; participating in the Grains for Health strategic "Healthy Grains into Schools Working Group"; and developing and teaching an undergraduate experiential learning Food Systems & Cooking course. 

Many of you may know Kris through her work overseing the Minnesota Food Charter Network project, the Homegrown Minneapolis Food Council, Board Chair for Appetite for Change and currently serves on the MDA appointed Good Food Access Program Advisory Committee.  

Kris earned her Masters of Public Policy from the University of California-Berkeley.

Call for Abstracts

The theme of the 2018 conference is Community Centered Care and the People We Serve and is scheduled for Oct. 25-26.

The call for Abstracts is now open, with criteria of a 60-minute oral presentation describing your practical, tested, culturally-appropriate strategies or best practices.  

Please visit the Many Faces of Community Health page for information on the conference and details on the Call for Abstracts. 

Volunteer schools needed

The Minnesota Safe Routes to School steering committee developed new tools to evaluate SRTS and is looking for volunteers to test them at schools in March and April.

More information is available on the February 2018 slides and recording of the Minnesota Safe Routes to School site.

Applications are due Monday, March 5.

Bi-monthly call helpful hints

We continue our helpful tips, assisting SHIP grantees in preparing and executing successful bi-monthly calls.

Week 4:

- If you have any questions, please list them on the call form. Any questions that come up after you’ve submitted your form may still be discussed on the call. This provides SHIP staff time to research an answer, if necessary.

Students at the Alternative Learning Center in Waseca wanted healthier lunch options, and they got it.

The school recently assembled a student-run school wellness committee. With help from school staff, University of Minnesota Extension and Brown, Nicollet, Le Sueur & Waseca SHIP, they were able to get salad options on the menu - which had not been available before. In addition, they organized a school garden, with produce incorporated in school lunches and a recently implemented cooking curriculum. The garden will also provides ingredients for the yearly student-run Thanksgiving meal, and they plan to roll out garden goodies as healthier snack options.

Currently, 43 students and about a dozen staff members benefit from the garden, with 51 percent of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch.

“We have a high number of students who may get their only healthy meal, while they are at school. (Many) were skipping lunch or bringing to school unhealthy food from nearby gas stations," said ALC Principal JoAnn Erickson. "With the salad options and school garden, more students are eating lunch at school and are really excited about the new options available.”

Well done, Waseca students and your wellness committee. Are we all invited for lunch?