Stronger You Bureau County aims to improve the well being of Bureau County residents

Stronger You Bureau County is a community initiative formed in December of 2023.

Various community organizations met to discuss increasing the well being of Bureau County residents through collaboration with the facilitation by OSF Saint Clare’s Community Health Coordinator Stefanie Morris. 

The idea and formation for the initiative was created using some basic blueprints from two other local collaborations, Live Well Streator and Healthier La Salle County. The premise for these initiatives is to increase the mental and physical well being of the community members within the communities they serve.

Stronger You Bureau County’s mission is: “Bettering our community through education, partnership; and outreach to support and strengthen each individual’s overall wellness.” The goal is to help community members create stronger bodies, stronger minds and stronger hearts.

Using the Community Health Needs Assessment facilitated through OSF Saint Claire, Stronger You Bureau County partners agreed that the identified mental health, substance use, active living and healthy eating needs are priority areas the collaboration could address.

For Saint Clare, the last community needs survey that was last disseminated in 2021 identified that mental health/substance use and active living/healthy eating were of the greatest needs to focus on.

In order to meet the tactics laid out and to make the greatest impact of change it is imperative to bring community partners together to collaborate on ideas and projects. Furthemore, the agencies at the table all have goals, objectives and passion that aligns with the needs identified in the community health needs survey.

The group worked to determine its name, slogan, mission statement and logo. For a first project the group determined to create an “active living” and “positive health messages” path utilizing the Zearing Park walking path. The idea was to encourage those using the path to increase their strength by performing various exercises along the path as well as promoting positive messaging to increase mental health wellness. The project was funded through a federal grant made possible by Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network and Illinois Department of Public Health.

A ribbon cutting was held May 6 at Zearing Park with community and Princeton Chamber of Commerce members.

In addition to this project, Stronger You Bureau County also launched an Active Living Bingo Challenge.  Find out more information about this program by visiting Stronger You Bureau County on Facebook.  Stronger You Bureau County will share more local events and education that promotes overall health and wellness on its page.