CHC had a busy 2025 with new program launches, continuing work, and community outreach. Check out what we've been up to.

February is American Heart Month. Check out these tips on heart health from our community health worker team.

In the January 2026 in person session, the STEMM scholars and their community mentors explored solutions for building bridges and other gateways to assist wildlife to move around safely in an environment shared with humans. The evening started with a presentation by CHC research assistant Thomas Cain who provided data on collisions between vehicles and wildlife. He followed this discussion with a short presentation on the various solutions communities around the world have created to provide for wildlife corridors.

On January 12, 2026, The Community Health Worker (CHW)Team of the Building Safer Communities Collaborative (BSCC) delivered training to a group of Community based Mentors on Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) and Mental Health First Aid (MHFA). The Building Safer Communities Collaborative Program, is a youth justice focused preventive intervention in collaborative partnership with Strickland Youth Detention Center, designed to help support youth 12 – 18 years, and their families, in the informal probation referrals process.

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HALO: Healing and Life Opportunities is USA Health's hospital-based violence intervention program run operated by the Center for Healthy Communities. The team spent the last year in program design and implementation with patients services officially launched in September. Check out the end of year report to learn more about HALO.

January is Substance Use Disorder Treatment Month. The CHC Community Health Worker team put together this resource to raise awareness about substance use disorder and its treatment.

This article, written by Carol McPhail, first appeared in the USA Health Insider. Mentors and family members celebrated seven teens who marked their graduation from Project Inspire, a hospital-based injury prevention program designed to curb violence among youth through intentional programming and mentorship. The event on Dec. 16 at Bishop State Community College featured slideshow remembrances from the semester interlaced with laughter and a few grateful tears.

The following reflection was written by Kierra Echols, community health worker in training. She participated in the second cohort of the Community Health Worker Training course. On Saturday, December 6, 2025, the USA Health Center for Healthy Communities and the Center for Continuing Education Cohort 2 Community Health Workers in training carried out their final group project—a community health outreach titled “

The USA Health Building Safer Communities Collaborative team attended the Alabama Juvenile Justice Summit in Orange Beach during the first week of December. Caroline Dodson, the team's research assistant also presented a poster on the program. In this article, Caroline and CHW Denise Shaw share about their experiences attending the conference. The Alabama Juvenile Justice Summit’s purpose was to create a statewide forum where the participants and speakers could collaboratively examine the strengths and challenges of their collective works with youth and families involved in the juvenile justice system.

The HALO: Healing and Life Opportunities is a CHC run program at USA Health University Hospital serving patients who have been treated for gunshot wounds. The program provides peer support, social needs assessments, and connections to critical community resources. The program aims to empower patient-participants to build a violence-free future and foster a healthier community.

The USA Health CHC outreach nurse participates in various community events to conduct blood pressure screenings and provide health education. She also visits certain sites -Prichard Housing, Tricks…

December is a time for celebration. It is also a time often filled with stress. The CHC Community Health Worker team put together this recipe for reducing stress.

During their second in person session, the STEMM Scholars fall cohort explored using different technologies in exploring and working in the environment. After spending time with their community mentors, students were divided into three groups working at stations involving electrical engineering, drone photography, and agriculture. Karla McCants, STEMM Scholars outreach coordinator, guided students to use an electrical engineering learning kit to build different “machines”.

November is National Homeless Youth Awareness Month. The CHC Community Health Worker team put together this resource to raise awareness about youth homelessness.