Melissa Worthington, Vice President of Chamber Services and Strategic Advancement for Envision Greater Fond du Lac, in partnership with Dr. Michael DeGere, Vice President of Population Health for Agnesian HealthCare – a member of SSM Health, successfully completed the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) national fellowship program designed to boost innovative community health initiatives.

Professionals selected for ACCE’s year-long Healthy Communities program participated in a design-thinking lab that helped to develop and implement a plan to tackle a specific community health challenge. Melissa and Mike chose to invest their time to help improvement of mental health and wellness in the workplace. Curriculum was designed to help participants demonstrate the leadership role their chamber of commerce can play in strengthening quality of life and supporting equitable prosperity because healthy communities achieve improved education outcomes, attract more talented workers and are more productive and competitive.

Cecilia Harry, President and CEO of Envision Greater Fond du Lac stated, “Good health is good for business. Healthy communities achieve improved education outcomes, attract more talented workers and are more productive and competitive. As a result, a growing number of chambers of commerce are championing health and wellness initiatives in the communities they serve.”

Leaders graduating from the 2019 Healthy Communities program represent chambers of commerce in Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Wisconsin. The program is made possible with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.