CDC and Y-USA Partnership: Achieving Public Health Impact through Policy and Environmental Changes within Local Communities

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the YMCA of the USA (Y-USA) have formalized a national partnership to further public health impact through the development and implementation of community-based strategies. The CDC/Y-USA Partnership is an innovative public health collaboration linking the resources and technical expertise of the federal government with the nation's oldest and largest non-profit service organization in an effort to widely disseminate evidence-based community interventions that reduce the burden of chronic diseases and improve the health of local communities. Y-USA's unique expertise and leadership in the areas health promotion and in the formation of networks to improve the public health system can be demonstrated by strategies that have been employed through Activate America. This ecological approach engages local YMCAs and their surrounding communities in healthy living pilot projects and assesses how YMCAs can: 1) effect change in policies and system-level activities through YMCAs serving as leaders and conveners in coalition-building efforts to develop and implement community action plans, 2) build internal organizational capacity to reengineer the YMCA's work and function not only with the 20 million people they currently serve but also those community members seeking healthy behaviors; and 3) build strategic partnerships and magnify public health impact through leveraging resources, broadening partner base, and implementing evidence-based programs and policies in YMCA communities. Pilot sites are employing a mixed method approach for evaluation and will be used as case studies to spread successful interventions to the ‘YMCA Movement', which reaches 10,000 communities across the U.S.