The Dakota County Board of Commissioners presented the 2023 Public Health Achievement Awards to three recipients Tuesday, April 25 in celebration of National Public Health Week. The winners are Anglos Latinos Motivated to Succeed (ALMAS), Susan Schroeder of Neighbors, Inc. and Minnesota Community Care’s Farmington Clinic.

ALMAS, a student group at Two Rivers High School in Mendota Heights, focuses on community service, leadership development, cultural heritage and academic achievement. ALMAS members have presented to city councils and legislators on how vaping has become an epidemic among youth, and political leaders have responded with new ordinances and laws. Despite data showing the damaging health effects of vaping, behavior change has been slow, especially among youth and young adults. In response, ALMAS created a three-part video series featuring youth and their questions about the dangers of vaping.

Schroeder has worked at Neighbors, Inc. in South St. Paul since 2018. The nonprofit agency provides emergency assistance and essential services to low-income residents in northern Dakota County. As deputy director, Schroeder works to improve existing services and look for new opportunities to help others. Through Neighbor’s Hunger Relief Program, Schroeder has prioritized making services more equitable, welcoming and efficient. She and her team also helped establish six Neighbors Express sites to increase healthy food access in the community. To make the food shelf more welcoming to Spanish speakers, she worked with an AmeriCorps member to create a Spanish-language outreach video.

Minnesota Community Care’s Farmington Clinic has provided effective, high-quality care in Dakota County since 2021. The clinic is part of a community care network that provides services to more than 37,000 patients at 19 locations. The use multilingual and multicultural expertise to provide accessible health care to diverse communities. The clinic provides primary care for all ages.

In spring 2022, Minnesota began welcoming people fleeing Ukraine through the federal Uniting for Ukraine program. The clinic became a leading partner in refugee and newcomer health in Dakota County. As a result, a backlog in the federal program’s health screenings has been eliminated entirely.

The clinic also partnered with Farmington School District to create a school-based health clinic and offer immunizations at school open houses. School nurse Ingrid Soderholm said the clinic “is a beacon of hope, support, understanding and accessibility for the promotion of public health.”

The county board established Public Health Achievement Awards in 2000 to recognize residents who devote their time, energy and talents to create a healthy future for Dakota County residents.