Freeborn County may again receive funding through the Statewide Health Improvement Program after the state Legislature this session approved $35 million in programming.

County officials plan to submit an application for funding at the end of June with the hopes of finding out by the end of August whether it will receive funding, said Freeborn County Public Health Director Sue Yost.

The county has not received funding since 2011.

SHIP, first signed into law in 2008, seeks to reduce heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases related to insufficient physical activity, poor nutrition and commercial tobacco use.

Freeborn County received $260,000 through the SHIP program in prior funding years.

Local money has gone to support everything from disc golf courses, to bike lanes to trail signage. It also supported healthy eating in the county’s school districts, worksite wellness and even school gardens — much through local partnerships with organizations such as the National Vitality Center and Pioneering Healthier Communities.

Yost said the county collaborated with nine other counties for the funding previously and will probably do so again in the future.