Community Development through Collaborative Community Health Assessment, Planning and Implementation

An increasing number of health departments are conducting comprehensive health improvement planning processes -- community health assessments, health improvement plans, and agency strategic plans – as pre-requisites for a voluntary accreditation through the Public Health Accreditation Board or as a core essential public health service. The main goal of this process is to align and leverage resources to implement data-driven approaches to improve population health outcomes.

The process involves compiling and analyzing data on health indicators, health behaviors, community assets, demographics and social determinants of health within a defined geographic area to understand and prioritize community development and health priorities.  As such, health departments have the opportunity to effectively engage diverse, multi-sector partners, in various ways throughout the process.   These partners can include hospitals/health care systems, government agencies, education, faith communities, economic development, philanthropy, community-based organizations, as well as community residents including the most vulnerable.  Health departments and other partners work collaboratively with community members to create and sustain improvements.

Panelists will present innovative strategies utilized to develop, nurture, and sustain multi-sector partnerships throughout the health improvement process – strategies that foster buy-in and ownership among partners to effectively implement community health plans. Additionally, this interactive panel presentation will share key questions, milestones, and potential implementation challenges to consider related to areas such as governance, back-bone support, organizational structure,  accountability, partner roles/responsibilities, communications, and sustainability. Workshop participants will have an opportunity to review and discuss tools, templates, and other available resources to maximize health improvement planning efforts.