Nominations are now being taken for the Michigan Public Health Week Partnership’s Hometown Health Hero awards for 2024.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says the program has been around for 20 years and ten awards will be given out this year.
The partnership’s Jim Koval tells us they want to honor people making a difference.
“The Hometown Health Hero award seeks to highlight individuals or groups that are doing significant and measurable work within their communities to improve the health and safety of their individual community,” Koval said.
Koval says all kinds of individuals and organizations can be Hometown Health Heroes.
“District court judges in the past have been awarded, we had a county commission back in 2010 receive the award, there was a group at Meijer about ten years ago that developed a nutrition labeling system that Meijer pioneered. That group won the award.”
Past winners have included Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety Director Dan McGinnis, in 2020, for his efforts to fight illegal dumping, and Southwest Michigan Behavioral Health, in 2018, for fighting the opioid epidemic.
Koval says nominations are being taken through January 31.
The winners will receive their awards at a ceremony at the Michigan Capitol in April.
You can find the award application right here. Completed nominations should be sent to Jim Koval via email at kovalj@michigan.gov
