The Mercy Health Foundation awarded $290,000 to The Friendly Center located within the Vistula historic district to to help revitalize The Friendly Center. The aim of this is to create a Community Hub to provide access to resources and programming for the area’s residents.
The focus of The Vistula Foundation is to focus on high-priority initiatives to help rebuild vitality in the neighborhood. Together The Vistula Foundation and The Mercy Health Foundation will work for improved educational outcomes, increased community engagement, economic advancement, health and wellness promotion and preservation of culture and history.
The Vistula neighborhood, roughly bordered by Champlain, Summit, Walnut and Magnolia streets, has faced increasing health disparities, including higher rates of diabetes, obesity and heart-related diseases. Challenges identified by residents include erosion of social infrastructure, the lack of maintained parks and recreational opportunities for youth and adults, a safe place for youth, health clinics and access to healthy foods.
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To address these concerns, the partners are looking to reinvigorate programming at The Friendly Center including well-being programs, empowerment programs, a financial opportunity center, food pantry, resource center and after-school programs. Mercy Health is also committed to provide regular on-site health screenings and help develop other health related programming.
In supporting the Vistula neighborhood, Mercy Health continues its efforts to address the social determinants of health and improve overall well-being in the communities we serve. Additionally, the work expands the support of the Getting Healthy Zone, a community-driven initiative working to increase infant vitality, improve the health of residents and create a community where people want to live, work and visit within the zip codes of 43608, 43610 and 43620.
For more information, contact Erica Blake: 419-261-8676, erica_blake1@mercy.com.
