Published on May 15, 2025
At the 2025 New York State Public Health Association (NYSPHA) Public Health Partnership Conference that took place May 1-2, 2025 in Ithaca, NY, Tompkins County Whole Health (TCWH) presented multiple program updates, shared highlights on recent projects, and received recognition for services and contributions to community public health.
Deputy Commissioner of Mental Health, Harmony Ayers-Friedlander and Graduate Public Health Fellow, Ross Milne presented on a panel about a newly launched supportive housing program, in partnership with Renee Spear, Executive Director of Catholic Charities Tioga-Tompkins (CCTT). The panel, titled “Local Partnerships Encompassing Community Health”, discussed the collaborative effort between TCWH and CCTT, to further develop a local housing-first program called “A Place to Stay”, which provides a low-barrier threshold to housing with built-in supportive services for residents. This project is funded through local distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds, which TCWH solicited project proposals for in 2024. The proposals were for programs that could provide innovative housing solutions to address homelessness along with substance use or co-occurring mental health disorders. Milne further promoted the project with a poster presentation following the panel discussion,
TCWH’s Healthy Infants Partnership program (HiP Tompkins) was highlighted in a workshop presentation conducted by Dr. Nia Nunn of Ithaca College. Dr. Nunn’s presentation focused on maternal health, illustrating the impact of a pilot project called “Sister Circle: Birthing Stories by Black Women”. The Sister Circle project, a curriculum developed by Dr. Nunn in partnership with HiP Tompkins’ Community Action Board, is an effort to address Black maternal health disparities in our community. Sister Circle was convened during Black Maternal Health Week in April 2024 and 2025, and provides a safe space, for local Black women to share their experiences of birth, prenatal and postpartum care, and their perceptions of birth. HiP Tompkins utilizes maternal child health focused community health workers to provide wrap-around prenatal and postpartum navigation support to pregnant persons who may have challenges accessing services, in an effort to improve birth outcomes.
TCWH’s Health Promotion Director Samantha Hillson and Public Health Communications Coordinator Shannon Alvord conducted a poster presentation to highlight the COVID-19 Community Resilience Mural on the corner of Plain St and MLK Jr St. (Ithaca), a project that was completed in the summer of 2024. The mural demonstrated effective use of Public Art for the promotion of Public Health messaging.
Additionally, Southside Community Center was selected as recipient of the NYSPHA conference-sponsored food drive and fundraising. Cornell University’s School of Public Health also was well-represented at the conference, with staff and students presenting on a variety of topics related to climate health, community organizing and public health preparedness.
TCWH was also the recipient of many accolades at this event:
Graduate Public Health Fellow Sagarika Vemprala was awarded the “New York State Fellowship Excellence in Public Health Award”
TCWH’s Health Promotion Program received an award for its “Outstanding Contribution for Rural Local Health Department Service”
Former Commissioner of TCWH, Frank Kruppa, received an award for his “Outstanding Contribution for Individual Service”
TCWH would like to extend our gratitude to NYSPHA for selecting Ithaca for this year’s conference location.
Tompkins County Whole Health: envisioning a future where every person in Tompkins County can achieve wellness. Find us online at: https://www.tompkinscountyny.gov/health and follow us on Facebook, Instagram or X. Sign up to receive Whole Health updates or other county announcements via email or text.
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