Spotlight on: Faribault and Martin County Health and Human Services

The team working at Faribault and Martin County Health and Human Services is distinctive for many reasons, including the fact that two staff members have the same first name: Kaylee Diefenderfer is the Health Communications Planner, and Kaley Hernandez is the Public Health Planner and Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) Coordinator.

Diefenderfer and Hernandez share more than their names. They also share a passion for their work, particularly the Bridges out of Poverty training their agency provides. Funded partly by a Minnesota Health Equity Networks grant, Bridges Out of Poverty is designed to give participants a deeper understanding of poverty. It promotes empathy among staff and community members, which results in stronger relationships.

“We use Bridges out of Poverty to develop programs and strategies that improve relationships at the front-line level, improve outcomes at the organizational level, and improve systems at the community level.” – Adapted from Faribault and Martin Counties website.

In 2019, Bridges Out of Poverty became a required training for all agency staff and is now part of the onboarding process for new hires. The agency has two certified Bridges Out of Poverty trainers, Diefenderfer being one of them, which has allowed them to offer the training to the broader community. To date, Bridges Out of Poverty has been offered to schools, churches, and other community groups. Many participants have since become program champions.

“We have seen immense success! We now have an agency-wide Bridges Out of Poverty workgroup and have modified some of our processes because of what we have learned. And community members and organizations have tried and implemented practices presented on the first day of training!” – Kaylee Diefenderfer

Staff and community members learn how to navigate conversations in a way that honors the work being done and leaves space for growth into something more equitable, like the work currently spearheaded by Kaley Hernandez with SuperShelves. Two local food shelves have evolved into SuperShelves, which helps to address food insecurity and food equity issues in the region. The project makes accessing appealing and healthy food easier for community members. This achievement illustrates the success of the Bridges Out of Poverty training, the contributions of the SHIP program, the Health Equity Networks Grant, and the work of Diefenderfer, Hernandez, and their colleagues and community partners.

“The SuperShelf work goes hand in hand with food access, and to become a certified SuperShelf, you need to meet certain requirements. They include equity goals like choice, access, and creating a welcoming environment for shoppers.” - Kaley Hernandez

Hernandez is helping other food shelves take “baby steps” toward becoming a SuperShelf by focusing on more client-centered food choices and creating welcoming spaces. SHIP funds are used to purchase refrigerators and freezers with glass panels, which is recommended to promote client choice. According to Hernandez, “if or when they decide to go down the SuperShelf path, they already have some boxes checked.” One of Hernandez’s ultimate goals is to build an understanding of SuperShelves and eventually have all food shelves in the area become super shelves.

“It has been really inspiring to watch partners go from being very hesitant about becoming a SuperShelf to being ecstatic about the change and becoming an advocate!” – Kaley Hernandez

The Bridges Out of Poverty training has been a success inside and outside of the agency. Both Diefenderfer and Hernandez hope they can offer more opportunities in the future to address poverty issues and more ways for community members to participate.

“This has been an incredible process, and it feels like we are creating a positive ‘force’ within our community. The more we’ve shared about it, the more people want to learn about it, inside and outside of our counties.” - Kaylee Diefenderfer