Illinois

Kelly Gagnon, AgrAbility of Illinois communications coordinator, recently attended the Farmer Veteran Coalition National Stakeholders Conference in Austin, Texas, to sign paperwork to establish a FVC chapter in Illinois. The chapter was officially launched at the Illinois Farm Bureau Annual Meeting on Saturday, December 7 in Chicago, IL. Three AgrAbility staff members support the FVC in their roles as board members: Kelly Gagnon (board of directors, communication officer), Steve Beasley (board of directors), and Jim Williams (advisory board).

AgrAbility of Illinois is partnering with the University of Illinois Extension to plan and host the Illinois Ag Mental Health Summit on Wednesday, March 4, in Bloomington, IL. The mission of the summit is to identify current resources available in Illinois that address mental health in agriculture, find current resource gaps, and begin establishing a plan to increase collaboration and dissemination of resources.

Submitted by Megan Crowhurst