Title: Empowering Communities Project Article
Author:
Section/SPIG: Community Health Planning and Policy Development
Issue Date:
Project Goal
To achieve measurable changes in community health requires community leader to assess and understand local health challenges; prioritize community need; develop, implement, and evaluate evidence-based interventions. Started in 2001 with a $153,000 grant funding from the Endowment for Health (www.endowmentforhealth.org), the Empowering Communities Project (ECP); a collaboration of the NH Institute for Health Policy and Practice, the NH Department of Health and Human Services, twelve community-health related agencies and organizations in NH, as well as 14 community collaboratives; strives to equip NH community leaders with data, training, and technical assistance to support implementation of local health improvement processes.
The path we've taken…
Our project began by assessing NH community leader preferences about facilitating easier access to community level data and their training needs for working with data. Feedback was collected via forums hosted by our community collaborative partners, key informant interviews, and a survey. The assessment revealed strong support for a web-based reporting and query system with the capacity to
1) provide community health profiles for a variety of geographic levels of resolution and
2) complete ad-hoc query requests for very specific health information (e.g. number of pregnant teens, 15-19 years-old by Hispanic ethnicity in a given community).
Community leaders expressed the need for training not just about using data to produce information, but about how to use this information to cause positive community change. The use of distance learning and in-person methods, brief (one-hour) formats, and lab-based classes for teaching technical subjects like using data were preferred.
Based upon assessment results, an implementation plan was developed and successfully funded in the amount of $266,000 by the Endowment for Health.
What we have accomplished…
In our first year of implementation, the ECP has developed the following resources to assist NH community leaders:
o NH Health Data Inventory: a web-based inventory of available NH public health data. Website: www.nhhealthdata.org
o Prove It!: a twelve-hour, lab-based beginner level data course.
o Eight-one hour training modules: Using five different training methods (including four distance learning modes), eight one-hour curriculums on community-requested topics such as evidence-based public health practice, social marketing, and program evaluation have been implemented.
o E-Roadmap to Evidence-Based Public Health Practice: a website to locate data-demonstrated solutions to public health problems. Website: www.publichealthsolutions.org
o Community Health Improvement One-Day Conference: This conference showcased new and enhanced ECP tools and provided a hands-on training on implementing and evaluating a community health improvement process.
o ECP Promotional Materials: including a project website, pamphlet, monthly e-newsletter, and training flyers. Website: www.ecnh.unh.edu
In addition to these resources, ECP is also providing money and staff time to develop the community health profile feature of NH Health Web-Based Reporting and Query System (NH HealthWRQS), a project spearheaded by the NH Department of Health and Human Services.
Where we are going…
We have applied for and received year three funding ($160,000) from the Endowment for Health. With these funds the ECP will:
1) continue to develop new resources (such as a tutorial to support use of the e-Roadmap website and three technical assistance days where community leaders can discuss community-specific issues with a community health expert),
2) enhance and market existing resources (such as expanding the NH Health Data Inventory to include national datasources and conducting presentations state-wide about project resources) and
3) undertake a visioning process to identify our future direction and sustainability funding to achieve this vision.
Acknowledgements: We would like to thank the Endowment for Health for their generous support of this project as well as all our project collaborators for their input and in-kind resources.