The Next Door, Inc. promotes Elizur Bello

Recently, Bello had been a family services therapist and prior to that, the program director of Nuestra Comunidad Sana. Bello spent over 10 years as a community health worker with both Nuestra Comunidad Sana and One Community Health (OCH) while working towards his Bachelor of Arts in physical education from Seattle Pacific University. At OCH, he worked as a diabetes and chronic disease health promoter.

“I really enjoy working with people and helping folks,” said Bello Friday. “After discussing it with Janet Hamada, (Next Door) executive director, she helped me realize it is similar work, just more in supporting programs that will help families and have a bigger impact.

“I’m ready to mitigate some of the gaps that exist in service areas to help the community thrive.”

His work with family services and Nuestra Comunidad Sana was “a huge learning experience for me,” he said. “I was able to identify some needs in terms of prevention services that we might be able to implement.”

Bello earned his Masters in social work from Portland State University to help address mental health issues faced by Latino and disadvantaged community members in a culturally sensitive manner. He is passionate about promoting mental health awareness, particularly in the Latino community, and has been a dedicated volunteer with Hood River Valley High School sports for several years, stated a press release.

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The Next Door is a non-profit organization in the Mid-Columbia region that opens doors to new possibilities by strengthening children and families and improving communities.