Public Health and Human Services releases 2024 Community Impact Report

The St. Louis County Public Health and Human Services (PHHS) department has released its annual Community Impact Report. The Community Impact Report shares stories, statistics, and insights that highlight the impact of the work done by PHHS to benefit county residents and communities, available in an interactive online format.

This report is created annually to inform the public about the efforts of PHHS to help thousands of people and families in St. Louis County achieve a better life through their work in five divisions: Behavioral Health, Children and Family Services, Economic Services and Supports, Home and Community Based Services, and Public Health. Meant to serve as a snapshot in time, the report communicates the breadth of services and impacts.

Some highlights from this year’s report:

. Public Health unveiled its updated Strategic Plan and highlighted its emphasis on serving the aging and adult population. In 2024 this included earning national recognition for its efforts to make St. Louis County healthier for the aging population. St. Louis County is the first county in the state of Minnesota to achieve this recognition from Trust for America’s Health Age-Friendly Public Health Systems.

. Children and Family Service shared statistics documenting the continued efforts to support families and children. This includes spotlighting improvements in State measures around how staff follow State and Federal requirements for serving Indigenous families.

. Economic Services and Supports, which determines eligibility for State and Federal programs, processed healthcare eligibility for 39,435 individuals through Medical Assistance (Medicaid).

. Home and Community Based Services provided information about the 7,571 individuals who contacted the division's triage line for accessing disability services through the MnCHOICES assessment and served 2,715 people with disability waivers. The report also details work now being down thanks to a Lead Agency Employment First Capacity-Building Grant that the county received.

. Behavioral Health works with adults through mental health, substance use and recovery, adult protection, guardianship and housing and homeless services. Highlights include the new work to support homeless youth, and examples of the partnerships that are foundational to this work – with crisis response providers, crisis stabilization and public safety/police partnerships.

The full Community Impact Report is available at https://slccommunityimpactreport.com/