Southeast Arizona Area Health Education Center
- Project Title: Healthy Farms Program
- Program Representative Interviewed: Gail Emrick
- Location: Cochise County, AZ
-
Program Overview: Southeast Arizona Area Health Education
Center's (SEAHEC) Healthy Farms Program began as a farmworker health initiative in the Winchester
Heights community or "colonia" of rural Cochise County, Arizona. Most residents of Winchester Heights are
farmworkers who face numerous barriers in accessing healthcare and improving the conditions in which they
work and live. SEAHEC began the Healthy Farms Program after conducting a community needs assessment. The
Healthy Farms Program first trained community members to serve as lay health workers, with the goal of
building trust between the Winchester Heights community and local health and social services organizations.
SEAHEC provided training and capacity building assistance to guide the lay health workers as they built a
system to help residents navigate local resources. Lay health workers also collected information about
priority health issues and began mobilizing residents to help improve community health.
In 2017, SEAHEC supported residents of Winchester Heights in their goal to build a community center, which provided permanent infrastructure for community engagement and organizing. The center now serves as a community hub that offers safe recreational activities, a community garden, and access to health and social services. To promote sustainable community development, SEAHEC assisted residents in developing a 501(c)(3) organization in 2020 that is responsible for managing the operations of the community center. As a 501(c)(3), the Winchester Heights community will be able to apply for and manage their own funding to meet the needs of residents.