23-04-2025
In Depth on Youngstown health improvement zones
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – WKBN 27 First News Community Affairs Director Dee Crawford sat down with representatives from the Youngstown Health Department to talk about community health improvement zones.
Through a state grant, Youngstown started health improvement zones. It was an initiative that came through the Ohio Department of Health and funneled down to the local level.
'We began in November 2022 with this initiative. We received a grant of $450,000 from the Ohio Department of Health to begin the Youngstown Health Improvement Zones. We strategically chose parts of town where each part of town is represented, but we strategically chose location zones throughout the city to place our community health advocates in those zones. So we have four zones. We have four sides of town, east, south, north and west. And each side of town is represented by a community health worker,' said Andrea Bivens, community health advocate supervisor.
The program works out of offices on the north, south, east and west sides of town. You can find the locations online.
'Two of our community health workers are active with the Mahoning County Pathways Hubs, so they do home visits with our expecting mothers and those who have had babies,' Bivens said. 'They're in and out of our East Side and our South Side location. The same thing because we do a lot of community outreach. So we ask our community residents to call, and they can come into the center. They're usually there between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Dee continues the conversation on the health zones and the services available in tomorrow's segment.
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