Submit your ideas for the Sitka Health Summit's virtual Planning Day on Sept. 23
Do you have a great idea on how to make Sitka a healthier community? The Sitka Health Summit Coalition wants you to submit your community wellness ideas now, so they can be presented at the virtual Sitka Health Summit Planning Day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 23 (virtual this year due to Covid).
In non-Covid times, the Sitka Health Summit has been an annual event that brings community members together to discuss ways to build a better culture of health and wellness in Sitka.
The highlight is Planning Day, where people get together to discuss a variety of projects to tackle over the next year. Most years, two projects are chosen, although it has been as high as five and as low as zero, depending on the year. This time, two community wellness projects will be chosen for 2021-22 and each project will receive $2,000 in seed money to get started.
Past community wellness projects include becoming Alaska's first Bicycle Friendly Community, becoming Alaska's first Walk Friendly Community, starting the Sitka Farmers Market, launching the Fish to Schools program, building the ADA-compliant Sitka Community Playground, supporting the Hames Wellness Center, coordinating the Sitka Community Food Assessment, opening the Sitka Cloud teen center, launching the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen, designing a Choose Respect mural at Blatchley Middle School, and more (click on the Planning Day and Initiatives tabs for more details).
After a selection process whittles the number of project ideas down to a couple, a grassroots group of community members champions them on through the next year. The Sitka Health Summit provides some seed money (and some projects, such as the Sitka Community Playground, will raise additional funds through grants and sponsorships). The Sitka Health Summit also provides facilitation services to help get the project off the ground.
Sitka community members can go to the Sitka Health Summit website at http://www.sitkahealthsummit.org and click this link to be taken to an online form where they can submit a short description of their idea. The submissions can include the person's name, or they can be anonymous. There also will be physical drop boxes at the Sitka Public Library, the Hames Wellness Center, the University of Alaska Southeast Sitka Campus, and WildFlour Café and Bakery (in the old Fisheye Café space on Seward Street). Please submit your ideas before noon on Tuesday, Sept. 14, so they can be compiled and presented on Planning Day.
