Collaboration Initiatives and Toolkits

The Cascade Pacific Action Alliance (CPAA), operating in the Central Western Washington region, was created to improve community health and safety while advancing the Triple Aim: improving the patient experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing per capita health care costs. This governance structure is similar in function but different in structure of typical governance structures, focusing solely on the decision making flow. The CPAA is unique in that it aims to reach consensus on key decisions, which means that every party does not need to fully agree on all parts of an issue, but they need to be able to live with it. Members are encouraged to adopt collective positions and recommendations that support a joint action model.

Partners in Harris County sought to reduce food insecurity in North Pasadena, Texas, a predominantly Hispanic, working-class suburb of Houston. They came together to create a community-supported food system to increase knowledge, demand, and availability of healthy food among the community. This is the governance structure they used to define the roles and responsibilities, relationships, and agency leads for the executive, backbone, and cross-cutting committees, all of which were made up of non-profit organization, hospital/health system, and health department partners.

504HealthNet created the Healthy Hospitality Initiative to increase access to care for hospitality workers in New Orleans. Clinics used this agreement to opt-in for the project, which also includes strengthening their capacity and infrastructure through quality improvement activities so that they can better serve hospitality workers and their families. This MOU serves the pupose of confirming clinic participation and outlines participant expectations.

Partners in Des Moines Iowa came together to improve the lives and health of children living in the East Bank region of Des Moines under the name Healthy Homes East Bank (HHEB). HHEB looks specifically to identify children experiencing chronic pediatric asthma symptoms, remediate the situtation with supportive services and improvement of household conditions, and follow up with the household to determine the impact of the intervention on the child’s conditions. This MOU is used to signify the commitment of partners to HHEB and discuss the expectations of the partners.

The Clark County Public Health Department partnered with the Vancouver Public Schools to support high-risk youth in the City of Vancouver. This MOU was created to define the roles and responsibilities of the public health department and the school system in providing Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resilience (ACEs) education to school staff, administrators, and volunteers.

Seventeen state agencies in Tennessee came together to improve the prosperity, quality of life, and health of Tennesseans in the areas of policy, funding, and programming. This collaborative focuses on the following state priorities: Jobs & Economic Development, Education & Workforce Development, Health & Welfare, Fiscal Strength & Efficient Government, and Public Safety. This is the logic model they used to describe how their inputs would lead to long-term change.

Partners in Harris County sought to reduce food insecurity in North Pasadena, Texas, a predominantly Hispanic, working-class suburb of Houston. They came together to create a community-supported food system to increase knowledge, demand, and availability of healthy food among the community. This is the logic model they used to show how their investments would lead to the desired impact.

In 2012, legislation in the state of California was passed that established the Office of Health Equity (OHE) within the California Department of Public Health. The establishment of this office represented an opportunity to reduce inequities and create health, wellness, and well-being for all California residents. OHE, along with hundreds of stakholders, created this strategic plan to report on the current state of health and mental health equity in California and outline a plan to address the inequities. This is an example of an in-depth, comprehensive strategic plan.

The Michigan Health Improvement Alliance, Inc. (MiHIA) is a cross-sector collaboration working to improve population health, quality of care and patient experience, cost of care, and provider well-being in the 14-county region it serves. The strategic plan outlines the mission, vision, strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and strategic initiatives and priorities of MiHIA. This is an example of a shorter, yet detailed and highly effective strategic plan.

The Chicago Department of Public Health convened over 1,000 stakeholders to develop Healthy Chicago 2.0, a collaborative, cross-sector plan that builds on 200 specific actionable and measurable strategies to build strong communities and provide all residents with equitable opportunities to maximize their health and wellbeing. The strategic plan includes ten action areas divided among six chapters and is a great example of how public health can use its skills to bring unlikely partners together to tackle multi-sector issues. This is an example of an in-depth, comprehensive strategic plan.