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St. Joseph Community Health – Giving Young Children a Healthy Start

 

 

Our Focus and Our Future:

 

SJCHS is responding to an alarm in New Mexico that represents one of the most urgent needs of our times – the need to give young children a healthy start.  Kids Count, a national reporting system, ranked New Mexico in 2000 as 46th in children’s well being, based on 10 indicators: low birth weight, infant mortality, child mortality, teen death rate, teen birth rate, high school dropout rate, teens not working or in school, underemployed parents, children living in poverty, and children in single-parent families.  By 2005, New Mexico was ranked 48th. The challenges confronting vulnerable NM children are already evident in grade school. In the 2006-2007 school year, only 54% of 4th graders read at grade level, and only 46% were at or above expected math proficiency level.  Our organization is being called to risk a caring response in relationship with others to be a healing and nurturing ministry for these children.

 

In 2008, the Board of Directors of SJCH began to consider a unifying, strategic focus for the organization’s work.   Identification of demonstrated community need and consideration of issues through the lens of our guiding principles led to a decision to narrow our future focus to address early childhood development with a preference for the poor and underserved.

 

SJCH believes that the way to achieve our Mission of creating healthier communities is through investment in the health of our youngest citizens.  The health of our children is foundational and SJCH will work to make a difference by focusing on initiatives and programs that have proven to enhance positive development in the first 5 years of a child’s life.  We want to provide the greatest opportunity for a child to develop into a healthy adult and SJCH will utilize evidence to improve outcomes in health for vulnerable children. 

 

By focusing on issues that impact young children, SJCH seeks to bring about systemic change – change that will be sustained over time and that will have a positive impact on the future health of our community.

 

2009 will be a transitional year for SJCH.  We will be completing some projects and programs currently underway, transitioning some work to the new focus and determining the most effective ways to insure that our children have a strong foundation for achieving future health.  As we have always done, we will work in collaboration with others to achieve the best outcomes.

 

We are excited about the future and hope that you will consider joining us by giving of your time, talent or treasure.  Together we can make a fundamental and long-lasting change in the health of our community.

 

 

Did you know?

 

In 2005, Kids Count (a national reporting system) ranked NM 48th in children’s well-being, based on 10 indicators:  low birth weight, infant mortality, child mortality, teen death rate, teen birth rate, high school dropout rate, teens not working or in school, underemployed parents, children living in poverty, and children in single-parent families.¹

 

In the 2006-2007 school year, only 54% of 4^th graders read at grade level and only 46% were at or above expected math proficiency level.

 

In 2006, the poverty rate for a high school dropout in New Mexico was twice the poverty rate for a high school graduate. ²

 

¹Annie E. Casey Foundation, Kids Count

²New Mexico Voices for Children, 2007 Data Book

 

Our Past and Current Programs:

(Learn more by clicking on the links on the left sidebar of this page.)  Major  SJCH program initiatives have included the following  (some of these programs have been finished and others will be completed as we make the transition to work in the area of Early Childhood Development): ·        Community Strengthening Initiatives in the SE Heights of Albuquerque o       3 components of this work being completed currently: Sector Plan development, Alleyway Project, Gardening Project. ·        Breast Cancer Resource Center o       The Center will become a separate 501(c)3 entity by October 1, 2009 and will receive substantial funding for FY10 through St. Joseph Community Health. ·        Cancer Outreach Initiatives o       These activities will continue under the newly incorporated Breast Cancer Resource Center. ·        Community Health Education o       SJCH continues to offer Healthy Families and Stress Management classes, primarily to parents and care providers of children up to age 5. ·        Agricultural Program at Santo Domingo o       This program has concluded. ·        Senior Well-Being Clinics o       SJCH will no longer provide these clinics for seniors as of 8/31/09. ·        Women’s Economic Strengthening Initiative o       This is a grant-funded program that assists women, especially those with small children, in developing micro-businesses to provide economic stability.  This program continues to operate under a grant from the CHI Mission & Ministry fund. ·        Vecinos y la Vida Sana o       This is a grant-funded program addressing food security and nutrition as it relates to childhood obesity; the program will be continued by other SJCH partners after 9/30/09. ·        African Refugee Well-Being Program o       SJCH funding of this program, run through the University of New Mexico, provided meals for program participants at meetings.  SJCH no longer funds this program. ·        St. Joseph Center for Children and Families o       This behavioral counseling service for families and children is operated by Samaritan Counseling of Albuquerque;  SJCH continues to provide funding for the Center. ·        Vecinos y Vacunas o       This program focused on raising immunization rates among children in the SE Heights of Albuquerque and resulted in significant increases in immunization rates.  This program is no longer active.

 

St. Joseph Community Health began its work in 2002.  Our programs, initiatives and advocacy work have been based on the belief that by identifying existing assets and building social, legislative and economic power among residents in neighborhoods where unhealthy social and physical environments exist that we can begin to reduce, and move towards eliminating, health inequities.  We have been and will continue to be, advocates for building capacity and community health through action on healthy public policy and planning.