141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

289476
Networked and entrepreneurial approaches for public health: Leveraging community development investments

Monday, November 4, 2013 : 12:50 PM - 1:10 PM

Joseph Schuchter, MCP, MPH , School of Public Health, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Public and non-profit public health agencies face an increasingly challenging funding environment of government shortfalls and a changing philanthropic model. Recognizing these trends, public health must adapt by better measuring and accounting for complex, multiple-intervention life cycles. They must simultaneously leverage capital from other agencies and sectors, including private and social investors. Public health stakeholders can achieve broader more sustained outcomes by expanding partnerships to tap these larger sources of capital and realize a collective impact. Both networked and entrepreneurial solutions are needed. Community development finance institutions are an especially promising partner, having a similar goal of public well-being and the expertise to secure capital. Community developers envision increasing returns on investments in housing and low-income neighborhoods by considering health outcomes. Healthy Communities forums sponsored by the Federal Reserve Banks nationwide have initiated this conversation. Similarly, public health agencies can do better by re-framing their work, as reflected in 2013 National Public Health Week: "Public Health is ROI". Expanding upon sentinel reports in this field, this paper discusses how public health can partner with community developers and social entrepreneurs. It examines the role of social impact bonds and opportunities for innovation. It offers ten recommendations for attracting investors and leveraging "outside" resources. Public health must learn to design, measure and market their interventions to demonstrate ROI. Ultimately, public health must remain committed to the social contact, yet be a convener and jointly seek private capital at a level that endows philanthropies, rather than fighting over the dividends.

Learning Areas:
Administration, management, leadership
Other professions or practice related to public health
Public health administration or related administration
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Identify opportunities for networked and entrepreneurial solutions to public health challenges and ten considerations when implementing such approaches.

Keywords: Community Development, Partnerships

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been studying this topic as part of my dissertation research and have been communicating and collaborating with leaders in the field.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.