Pushing the envelope: Transforming communities through engagement, convergence, and leadership

What should keep public health officials and health leaders up at night? 

We should be tossing and turning about abysmal, substandard statistics in our jurisdictions’ communities, despite having overall average, or above average, statistics under our authority. We should be viewing our jurisdictions through a close-up geographic lens to see, understand, and address the stark inequalities that exist. We must push the envelope. Location and assets matter. Collaboration and leadership do, too. We must venture beyond the “power of prevention” into the “power of community engagement and convergence,” and tackle the big challenges to improving population health—aligning multi-sector efforts and resources to address the social determinants of health that lead to health disparities.

This presentation will focus on the “power of partnership” and how partnerships can sustain momentum when resources are limited by time or suddenly redirected. The presenter will cover the challenges and successes of Community Transformation Grants and Healthy Communities. She will present place-based, case studies of diverse communities, such as the Pacific Territories, New Orleans, and San Antonio—and how this Texas town, as well as four other communities that include the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, was recently designated a “Promise Zone” as part of a federal government economic initiative. The presenter will also demonstrate a grant-funding mapping tool and discuss her organization’s approach to multi-sector leadership training that galvanizes communities to build a public health movement that enables America to be the healthiest nation in a generation.