About Us

Founded in 1981, the McMillen Center for Health Education is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and one of fewer than 30 such health education organizations nationwide.  The Center is recognized as the number one resource for health education in the Northern Indiana region – reaching nearly 40,000 youth a year. We are housed in a 16,000 square foot facility with six themed teaching theaters, a 125 seat auditorium, and a Great Hall with various hands-on displays. We have 14 full- and part-time staff members.  Our 7 professional educators all hold a four-year degree in either education or a health-related field.  To date, the Center has provided fact-based health information and education to over 1.4 million children and teens.

We provide 76 programs on general health; safety; HIV/STDs; drug/ alcohol/ tobacco use prevention; nutrition and fitness; human growth and development; bullying prevention, and more. Sample program topics include the Scrubby Bear program to teach preschoolers about hygiene, the Health Adventure program to teach third-graders the four keys of staying healthy, the Balance Your Act program to provide information to middle school students about the health risks and prevention of obesity; and the Breast Self Exam and Testicular Self Exam programs to provide teens with information on the early detection of cancer.

In order to best meet the needs of those we serve, we are flexible in our offerings, as we offer programs here at our facility, through outreach where our educators travel to a school or community site within 100 miles, and via interactive videoconferencing (IVC) where our educator can interact with up to 4 classes at once in our state-of-the-art IVC studio.

The McMillen Center has membership in the National Association of Health Education Centers (NAHEC) and the Northeast Indiana Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (NISTEM) Center.