Linn County Public Health was collecting feedback for their next community health assessment and improvement plans for the 2025-2027 years.

LCPH has held several events this summer, including an open house in Mount Vernon Thursday, July 11.

Jacquie Montoya with LCPH said the group will take the feedback received in numerous sessions to start the group’s next focus over the next few years.

The current focus of LCPH has been mental health, physical activity and gun safety over the past couple of years.

The 10 topics under consideration for the next focus of LCPH include:

• physical inactivity
• mental health
• violent crime
• heavy drinking
• vaccine hesitancy
• housing
• childcare access
• unemployment
• food security
• drug use/overdoses

Montoya agreed that many of these are intermingled/connected issues in communities, like lack of childcare feeds into the unemployment issue in a community, and lack of housing could be intermingled with those other two issues. Higher costs of housing/rent also means less money for people’s food budgets.

Discussion was held on the issues in Mount Vernon and Lisbon—childcare, housing, food security were among the highest. Mount Vernon mayor Tom Wieseler said there have been efforts to address some issues, including new housing in the community.