Action Communities for Health, Innovation, and Environmental changE (ACHIEVE): An Integrated Approach to Building Healthy Communities from a National Association Perspective

As public health focuses on keeping chronic disease prevention efforts in the political spotlight, shifting the emphasis from programs to sustainable policy change has become increasingly vital. This presentation will outline the Action Communities for Health, Innovation, and Environmental Change (ACHIEVE) framework, a national partnership among five integral organizations that decided to use a unified approach to building healthy communities under the guidance of the Healthy Communities Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This presentation will detail the training of 133 community organizations in order to enhance their abilities to implement policy, systems, and environmental change strategies, including working with city planners to install bicycle lanes to encourage biking to school, creating tobacco free parks, and sponsoring farmers markets to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables. The presentation will fully examine the five phases of the ACHIEVE model which includes the formation of a coalition, assessment of the local policy environment, developing a policy focused Community Action Plan (CAP), implementation of the CAP, and evaluation of coalition efforts and CAP implementation. This presentation will describe the technical assistance objectives and methodologies that the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD) and the national partners use for ACHIEVE, outlining specific examples of training approaches for community coalitions working collaboratively with state health department expert advisors. The anticipated short- and long-term outcomes of ACHIEVE will also be identified for comparison along with a discussion of opportunities for future implementation of the ACHIEVE model across communities nationwide.