The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #34605

David Rak, MPH¹, Gretchen Musicant, RN, MPH², Gloria Lewis, MA³, and David Johnson, MPH¹. (1) Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support, 250 South 4th Street, Room 510, Minneapolis, MN 55415-1372, (2) Minneapolis Department of Health & Family Support, 250 South 4th Street South - Room 510, Minneapolis, MN 55415, (3) Minnesota Department of Health, 717 Delaware Steet SE, Minneapolis, MN 55440

Faith-based institutions are integral to the life of communities and have the capacity to mobilize and serve as catalysts for social change. Recognizing this, the public health department in Minneapolis (Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support) met with faith leaders in the city to discuss community health issues, to learn how faith based institutions were currently addressing these issues, to gain an understanding of the needs of faith based institutions, and to develop working partnerships with institutions to better address community health.

From the discussions, areas of common interest, such as improvements in the issues of child abuse and neglect, HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, and jobs and employment, were articulated. In addition, groundwork was laid toward the development of future collaborative efforts.

This presentation will highlight 1) recommendations made by the faith communities as to how the local public health department can help faith-based institutions deal with public health issues), 2) results from a survey aimed at identifying local congregation activities and interests, 3) a model outlining four levels of faith community - public health involvement to provide health-related information to congregations, and 4) “Next Steps” taken by the local public health department to partner with faith communities.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to
• identify potential public health interest areas of faith-based institutions,
• describe levels of involvement between faith communities and public health in providing health-related information to congregations, and
• develop a list of ideas for successful faith communities-public health partnerships.

Keywords: Faith Community, Partnerships

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.