Work groups will be formed to address these priorities.
Frederick, Md (KM) The Health Improvement Priorities for Frederick County from 2025-2028 have been announced. Malcolm Furgol, the Executive Director of the Coalition for a Healthier Frederick County, says one deals with food and nutrition and the lack of access to affordable healthy food. A second one concerns inadequate affordable housing supply. The third and fourth priorities involve mental health: the lack of awareness of accessibility to resources; and the stigma associated with mental health. The fifth priority is about racial equity and Justice, traditional and systemic racism.
Now that these priorities have been developed, Furgol outlines what’s next. “So we’re going to be establishing work groups once we hear back from folks, to set up meetings starting next month in March; and really working on these over the next few years,” he says.
He invites the public to join one or more of these work groups. “Anyone who lives and/or works in Frederick County is encouraged to participate and let us know they’re interested,” he says. “There’s no gatekeeping here. We want anyone who’s interested in these issues to join and work on them. It’s going to take a village, so to speak, representation from community members, businesses, non-profits, government to make a dent on these issues.”
Anyone who wants to participate can go on line to https://forms.office.com/r/yJiEU6j5i9, and fill out the form.
Furgol says these priorities were approved by the Coalition’s Board of Directors following a Public Input Session on January 22nd, 2025.
Also helping in this effort was the Frederick County Health Department, and Frederick Health Hospital.
By Kevin McManus