THRIVE: A Community-led Approach to Achieve Health Equity throughout the Lifespan

The Community Tool for Health and Resilience in Vulnerable Environments (THRIVE) translates health equity knowledge into community action by 1) prescribing a community led process to understand the community's interests related to social determinants of health, 2) initiating community led workgroups to develop implementation plans to address community defined and prioritized issues, 3) developing multi-sector collaborations comprised of agencies and organizations that control the means to address community priorities and 4) positioning the community representatives to facilitate the multi-sector collaboration to advance efforts to address those social determinants that lead to increased health equity. One of THRIVE's primary goals is to take community knowledge regarding the social determinants of health and package it in a manner that helps to enable community-led efforts to improve health outcomes. Additionally, the community led process initiated by THRIVE develops multi-generational relationships, strengthens multidisciplinary partnerships, and changes the way communities think about health and safety. THRIVE builds upon academic and practitioner research by providing a mechanism for communities and their partners to take action to achieve health equity.

The presentation will begin with a description of the THRIVE assessment process that is designed to define strategies needed to address the prioritized determinants of health. The second part of the presentation will focus on the presentation of three successful pilots that will demonstrate how THRIVE has been used in a variety of locations, with different populations, and how the tool has enhanced cultural and generational efforts to promote health and health equity.