In every community, there are young people whose potential is visible long before their opportunity is. Bridging the gap between those two things, potential and opportunity, is where Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) has spent more than three decades quietly working.
In Rice County, Minnesota, that work shows up in schools, homes, and the spaces where young people are figuring out what kind of future is possible for them.
It shows up in a student trying to keep up in class while carrying stress from home that no child should have to manage alone. It shows up in a first generation college hopeful trying to navigate a system not built with them in mind. It shows up in a young person who is not asking for much, only a place where they feel seen and supported.
For more than thirty years, HCI has been building that kind of place. Not alone, but together. At its core, HCI’s mission is to “cultivate transformative health, education, and career outcomes for every child, youth, and family through innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning,” as HCI’s Executive Director, Tom Steinmetz, explains. That mission reflects a basic understanding: when a community aligns around its young people, those young people are more likely to thrive. That idea shapes everything HCI does, from early childhood programs to youth leadership initiatives to long term partnerships that connect schools, families, nonprofits, and local leaders.
What makes this approach powerful is not just the programs themselves, but how they are built. HCI does not start with assumptions, it starts with listening. It asks what families need, what young people are experiencing, and what barriers stand in the way of opportunity.
Then it helps the community respond together.
In early childhood programs like ParentChild+, families receive in-home support that strengthens early learning and helps caregivers build confidence as a child’s first teacher. In youth programs like TORCH and RISE, students receive academic guidance, mentoring, and encouragement to stay on track toward graduation and what comes next. These supports are not isolated services. They are part of a connected system designed to meet young people where they are and help them move forward with stability and confidence.
One of the most powerful expressions of this philosophy is Youth on Boards. Through this initiative, high school students serve directly on local boards and commissions. They are not symbolic participants, they are active contributors whose perspectives help shape real decisions in their community.
For many young people, this is the first time they are invited into rooms where decisions are being made about the places they live. It is also often the first time they feel their voice is taken seriously.
Brianna Velazquez Sanchez, an HCI Board co-chair, puts it this way: “HCI really connects with youth in our community and creates a culture where lots of voices are heard and gives an opportunity for youth to be heard and feel welcomed in these adult spaces.” That sense of being welcomed matters just as much as the opportunity to speak. When young people feel they belong in decision-making spaces, they begin to see themselves differently.
And that shift matters.
When a young person is trusted with responsibility, something changes. They start to understand that their voice has weight and their ideas belong in spaces where decisions are made.
The challenges young people face are rarely isolated. A student struggling in school may also be facing housing instability, food insecurity, or limited access to mental health support. HCI recognizes this and works to address those realities together, not separately, and over time, that approach adds up.
The impact is not always loud or immediate. It often shows up in small moments that build over time. A student that once doubted if they would graduate does just that. A family finds support before a crisis grows. A young person begins to see their community not as something outside of them, but something they help shape.
This is the work HCI has been doing for decades. Not creating change in isolation, but helping communities create it together. If you are interested in learning more about this work or getting involved, visit Healthy Community Initiative at www.hci-mn.org.