An improved walking path near a school, community gardens and renovated pickleball courts are coming to Lorain County as part of a grant program of Lorain County Public Health.
Many of the 11 funded projects have multiple objectives 鈥� like improving a walking path for families near Stevan Dohanos Elementary in Lorain. The path is meant both to encourage families to get moving and provide a safe way for kids to get to school. It will also feature bilingual signage for the benefit of the city's large Spanish-speaking population.
Addressing social and physical aspects of health is important in a county that has a racially, ethnically and economically diverse population, Mark Adams, Lorain County鈥檚 Public Health Commissioner, said.
"The social determinants of health is a very serious issue that we are paying attention to," Adams said. "And using the community's money responsibly is building back into the community, especially its infrastructure and healthy behaviors."
The 11 grants, totaling $73,000, will not fully fund the projects, but instead provide support to the neighborhood organizations spearheading them. Adams said that structure allows the projects to be citizen-driven.
"What this program represents was an idea of saying to those community folks, 'Hey, you know what you need,'" Adams said. "We're going to provide a little bit of money that helps you put that infrastructure in place.'"
The projects also had to align with Lorain County's , which are updated every three years.
Other projects include an improved telehealth station at Lorain Public Library, new outdoor fitness equipment at a senior center in Elyria and improved basketball and pickleball courts in Pittsfield Township.
