ST. JOSEPH, Ind. (WNDU) – At Wednesday’s St. Joseph County board of health meeting, the health department presented its 2025 annual report and highlighted the impact of its public health programs and community partnerships.
We were at the county-city building.
In 2025, the St. Joseph County health department says it not only met but exceeded most of its goals while also providing $1.3 million in grants to local organizations. The department says the money directly helped more than 64,000 county residents.
But even with those results, the department is bracing for a major budget drop from $6.2 million in 2025 to $1.7 million in 2026, a cut health officials say will force them to scale back services.
During its 2025 annual report Wednesday, the St. Joseph County health department highlighted programs it says are making a difference, including EMBER a weekly class that helps women navigate pregnancy and postpartum health.
“I’m most proud of the EMBER program in that they provide education, they provide camaraderie and community for expectant mothers and mothers who have young babies at home. We are their village for them. We have wonderful providers in the area who volunteer their time to help educate these new moms or new-to-be moms about how to take care of themselves, how to take care of their babies. And we’re hoping to make a difference in the maternal fetal mortality rate in the long run. And it really does provide a sense of community for those moms here in the community,” said Dr. Michelle Migliore a health officer for St. Joseph County.
The department also pointed to $1.3 million in grants awarded to local nonprofits including Cultivate Food Rescue, which used the funding to provide more than 127,000 meals to students experiencing food insecurity.
“Many of them are here wanting to make an impact on the health and safety in our community, and they need the money to do that. Usually, it’s to get training available or help with just the operational expenses when it comes to packing up food or refrigerating food or freezing food. Every single program that we’ve partnered with they’ve just been incredible,” said Migliore.
But health officials say that support may not continue. They say state funding for county health departments is being cut by 73 percent for the next two years, forcing them to roll back outreach and partnerships.
“One thing that we had to do is give up our community partnerships. We’ll no longer be able to give the funding that’s so important to the people that we talked about today. All of our community partners are more than worthy of the money that they were getting and also using in a very, very intentional and good way,” said Migliore.
Health department leaders say they’re hoping the funding doesn’t drop even further when lawmakers take up the next state budget in 2027.
“Come and spend a day with us. Come and see the great work that my team is doing. The staff at the health department is just incredible. They’re out there trying to help people just get them connected to resources and make sure that we can help families that are struggling,” said Migliore.
Despite those cuts, the health department says it will expand its Chronic Disease program this year and offer free screenings for diabetes and cardiovascular disease to help at-risk residents get connected with care.
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