she/her/hers
Class of 2022
Geography, Community and Global Health, Statistics Minor
Family Tree Clinic
This summer I partnered with Family Tree Clinic, a community clinic that has been situated in the Mac-Groveland Neighborhood for the last fifty years. Family Tree has an incredible reputation throughout Minnesota and the greater Midwest for high quality and inclusive sexual and reproductive health care and education. In the Fall of 2022 they are relocating to a brand new art-infused and trauma-informed clinic located in the Stevens Square Neighborhood in Minneapolis.
As someone interested in pursuing a career in healthcare, I was drawn to collaborating with Family Tree due to the well established history of care and the opportunity to support the clinic’s next wave of change. My project was to complete a community health needs assessment to contextualize both the neighborhood of Stevens Square and Family Tree’s own history in order to remain curious for the future. The report included an exploration and analysis of publicly held data, an investigation of Family Tree’s patient demographics, and interviews with community stakeholders living and working in Stevens Square. This project was tailored to my passions and allowed me to combine my formal academic background in geography, statistics, and public health to create the assessment and accompanying data visualizations and maps. This report will go on to inform Family Tree as they determine programming and services in their new location. The research process further developed my analytical skills and enhanced my knowledge of GIS while providing me the invaluable opportunity to learn how to complete a community health needs assessment.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to pursue research of this caliber in partnership with an extraordinary organization like Family Tree Clinic while still in my undergraduate career. Completing this project reaffirmed my desire to join the field of healthcare and public health after my graduation from Macalester.