The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #65158

Joseph D. Kimbrell, MA, LCSW, Chief Executive Officer, National Network of Public Health Institutes, 1600 Canal Street, Suite 501, New Orleans, LA 70112, (504) 539-9481, jkimbrell@lphi.org

The presentation will provide an overview of the community capacity building initiatives of members of the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI), including: the Center for Community Capacity Enhancement (Louisiana Public Health Institute), California Healthy Cities/Communities Project (Public Health Institute / California), Partners in Action Conference (Public Health Futures Illinois), Increasing Business Participation in Community Health (Virginia Center for Healthy Communities), and others. The presentation will explore community capacity building efforts as a strategy for improving community health.

A focus of the presentation will be the Center for Community Capacity Enhancement, a program of the Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI). The Center for Community Capacity Enhancement (the “Center”) was formulated in response to one of the many valuable lessons learned during the formulation of Louisiana’s Public Health Improvement Plan (2000, Louisiana Turning Point Partnership). Communities across the state of Louisiana recognized the challenges in creating a healthy community but echoed the same sentiment: lack of capacity to find solutions and lack of knowledge of how to be agents of change. In addition, communities had experienced the inability to sustain community initiatives in order to effect long-term change.

The purpose of the Center is to enhance capacity of communities throughout the state of Louisiana by nurturing community coaches and partnerships with technical assistance and access to resources. By developing sufficient capacity and local expertise within communities in Louisiana, the Center will enable the successful development, implementation and sustainability of collaborative, community health improvement efforts.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the audience will be able to:
• Identify several community capacity building initiatives, and
• Articulate the strategy by which community capacity building initiatives seek to improve community health.

Keywords: Community Capacity,

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Spend 25% of time working with National Network of Public Health Institutes.