Community Health Awards 
Certificates of Recognition

Certificates recognize individuals or groups who have demonstrated a significant commitment to public health.

Most recent recipients
About this award
Eligibility and nominations
Past honorees

Better Together Hennepin team and partners

Better Together Hennepin provides evidence-based, prevention-focused, community-engaged work to prevent unplanned pregnancies among county teens and adolescents. Better Together Hennepin’s programming is trauma-informed, LGBTQ-inclusive, and employs youth development principles. Trained sexual health educators, employed by community-based organizations rooted in the communities facing disparities, carry out the interventions. Hennepin County has been successful in reducing teen birth rates by nearly 60% in the past 10 years, outpacing both state and national declines. Emily Scribner-O'Pray accepted this award on behalf of Better Together Hennepin.

Countryside Public Health Community Leadership Team

The Countryside Community Leadership Team (CLT), active since 2009, is made up of local public health supporters including business owners, farmers, county board members, tribal partners, and representatives from community groups, schools, chambers of commerce, hospitals and health care facilities. In 2017, the Countryside CLT began focusing on farmers markets and access to healthy food in rural communities, working collaboratively across their five counties to create "Tokens for Tomatoes," a $2 farmers market token exchanged for fresh produce.

David C. Johnson, epidemiology manager, Hennepin County Public Health

In David C. Johnson's nearly 20 years in governmental public health, he has led continuous improvement efforts to expand tuberculosis contact investigation capacity, served as incident commander during the 2018 Hennepin County measles outbreak, served on the SCHSAC Infectious Disease Continuous Improvement Board, led collaborations between public health and hospital systems, and much more. He's also served as an adjunct instructor at St. Mary's University of Minnesota, is past president of the Minnesota Public Health Association, and serves on a number of local and regional public health and epidemiology workgroups.

Certificates of Recognition were created in 1985 as a way to recognize individuals as well as groups, including public health partners (such as emergency medical services, physicians, and others) for their contributions to public health.

Eligibility requirements include: Current SCHSAC member or alternate member, local community health services staff, Minnesota Department of Health staff, local advisory committee member, elected official, or volunteer. Nominate an individual or group for this award.