EMPOWER – Arizona's collaborative leadership efforts in implementing policy on childhood obesity and tobacco use in child care settings

The article discusses Arizona's strategic implementation of a policy that incorporates childhood obesity and tobacco use prevention—two critical public health issues into an innovative prevention program called EMPOWER, by blending dollars from three funding streams. The Division of Public Health and Prevention Services within the Arizona Department of Health Services worked with the State Licensure for Child Care Facilities to target child care providers that provide services to families of infants and children, by ‘incentivizing' adaptation of EMPOWER child care standards and off-setting rising child care licensing costs in Arizona. The article focuses on how public health issues can be effectively and efficiently addressed through collaborative leadership, blending funding streams, and utilizing evidence-based practices to assist communities in achieving public health outcomes. Preliminary findings and baseline data on the efficacy of the strategy and implications are discussed.