Whiteside County Healthier Communities Partnership
History and Background
On June 16, 1996, 11 professionals from Whiteside County social service agencies embarked on “the road to collaboration,” arriving in Springfield on June 17, 1996 to take part in then-Gov. Jim Edgar's “Conference on Prevention.”

Titled “A Roadmap to Collaboration,” the two-day conference was designed to assist local planning initiatives and community systems in coordinating strategies to support their communities. What initiatives? What systems? Although the folks in Whiteside County were pretty friendly, we had no official Partnership to turn to. We were it!

And we got right to work, writing a news release on the trip home from Springfield in the van. We called our first Partnership meeting just a couple weeks later. The rest is history.

The group has evolved from the Sterling-Rock Falls Healthier Communities Partnership to the Whiteside County Healthier Communities Partnership, involving nearly 50 different agencies. Our mission is to create a healthier community and safer Whiteside County.

We met once a month in the early years, then quarterly and now back to monthly. We’ve developed a website, received various grants, and collaborated with other groups using creative and innovative strategies to provide a variety of social service programs.
Early History

  • Created the Whiteside County Teen Leaders Group
  • Assisted in development of TAZ Teen Center, now part of Sterling’s Challand Middle School program.
  • Received a $360,000 tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs Communities Can Grant
  • Assisted the health department and other regional offices of education in utilizing tobacco settlement money
  • Collaborated on Acute Care Clinic, Prescott Dental Clinic, and the Back-to-School Supplies Drive
  • Hosted Brother-to-Brother/Sister-to-Sister Summits.

Recent History

  • Hosted an Under-Age Drinking Town hall meeting
  • Worked with the Illinois Rural Transit Assistance Center to get Whiteside County on the State of Illinois list to become a recipient of grants for transportation.
  • Developed "Just in Case" cards for students and teachers
  • Created Guidance Counselor packages and yellow pages of resources
  • The Whiteside County Health Department received its Notice of Grant Award to become a Federally Qualified Health Center
  • Worked with Whiteside County Crime Stoppers to educate the public of the hazards of drugs and alcohol
  • Presented suicideTraining and Communication and Coping programs in Sept. and Oct. 2008 for parents in the wake of recent tragedies
  • Initiated Project Sticker Shock, now a state-wide event, designed to raise awareness about penalties for purchasing liquor for minors
  • Developed "Save Our Services" campaign to protest looming state budget cuts in Summer 2009.