The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #46827

Gail A. Gentling, MPH, Minnesota Department of Health, PO Box 64975, St. Paul, MN 55164-0975, 651-296-9107, gail.gentling@health.state.mn.us

Along with more traditional risk reduction activities, building civic engagement and social capital are increasingly regarded as priorities for health improvement. These approaches have demonstrated success by engaging community members and relying on a community’s own resources and strengths as the foundation for prioritizing, designing, implementing, and evaluating community change initiatives. “Infrastructure” is the underlying base or foundation of an organization or system. A foundational principle of public health is the involvement of community members in identifying solutions to issues that affect them. This presentation focuses on the integration and institutionalization of building statewide infrastructure by involving community members in assessment, planning and evaluation. The Minnesota Department of Health has learned important lessons about engaging community members and has begun to work with community members in new and different ways. Not surprisingly, these experiences are also influencing the internal workings of the Department. Similarly, many communities including local public health agencies are working differently with their partners. Experiences at both the state and local levels have come from different initiatives and grant programs including: Minnesota’s Minority Health Assessment Grant program, the development of and recommendations from Minnesota’s report on the effects of social determinants on health status (Call to Action: Advancing Health For All Through Social and Economic Change”), and a statewide workgroup of community members and professionals on Civic Engagement and Disparities. Examples of applying these “lessons learned” will be highlighted from Minnesota’s statewide Eliminating Health Disparities Initiative and its local four-year Community Health Services planning process.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to

(
• articulate “lessons learned” from Minnesota’s experience with involving community members in assessing disparities in health status; (
• replicate, adapt or use innovative community engagement tools that were developed by community members; (
• describe and adapt to their situations effective methods of involving community members in the development, implementation and evaluation of the statewide Minnesota Eliminating Health Disparities Initiative, and in the statewide local Community Health Services planning process; and (
• list and discuss changes in Minnesota at the local and state levels and within the Minnesota Department of Health to institutionalize the involvement of community members in assessment, planning and evaluation.

Keywords: Community Involvement, Infrastructure

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.