Development of Knowledge Sharing Infrastructure for Child Health in the District of Columbia

Issues: The paucity of transparent, timely, and actionable child health information available to District of Columbia communities is disconcerting. Being home to several prominent medical research centers, the volume of pediatric research generated in the District is impressive; but, the discoveries do not reach communities in a way that enable them to act. Research suggests that building community capacity to respond effectively to collective problems is influenced by timely access to information and "an open process of accumulating and evaluating evidence and information.”

Description: To address this void of information transparency, Children's National Medical Center's Child Health Advocacy Institute (CHAI) led the collaborative development of a dynamic, interactive web-based information system that provides actionable and timely information on the health of District residents, families, and communities. This tool provides access to data that can inform community driven initiatives and promote collaborative efforts to address local health disparities and promote wellness. The tool serves as a living community health needs assessment. We partnered with the Healthy Communities Institute (HCI) in this endeavor.

Lessons Learned: The lessons learned from this project include: * Importance of social marketing efforts * Importance of identifying measurable outcomes measures from the onset of the project * Need for community involvement from inception of project * Need for identification of sustainable funding sources.

Recommendations: We have identified five distinct next steps including: * Broadening this tool to reflect the full District population * Performing a data needs assessment * Creating a Spanish-language version * Expanding the tool to reflect the District of Columbia metropolitan area * Applying for grant and private funding to sustain the tool.