A Message from the Director of the Center for Sharing Public Health Services
The Center for Sharing Public Health Services is pleased to announce it has selected seven teams to participate in its 2019 Small Grants Program. Each team will receive funding and one-on-one technical assistance to work on a topic that the Center has prioritized for further study.
At the Center, we help public health departments work together to protect and promote the health of the people they serve. The Small Grants Program, which was launched in 2016, supports application of cross-jurisdictional sharing (CJS) models. At the same time, the program allows Center staff to observe CJS initiatives in real time, making it easier to capture details about the efforts as they develop. We then use what we have learned from the program to provide tools, resources and technical assistance to other jurisdictions that are considering or adopting CJS approaches. In this way, the Small Grants Program functions as a learning laboratory by allowing us to collect best practices and share them with the larger public health community.
Our 2019 call for proposals (CFP) resulted in the largest pool of applicants we have ever received for the Small Grants Program. We believe this elevated response reflects a high level of interest in CJS solutions and the assistance the Center can provide to public health practitioners implementing CJS models.
We look forward to working with our 2019 grantees, who are listed below.
- The Center for State and Local Government Excellence will develop a guide to improve collaboration between public health departments and neighboring military installations, who often face a shared set of public health challenges.
- The Greater Mercer Public Health Partnership in New Jersey — a collaboration of eight local health departments, four hospitals and approximately 30 nonprofit organizations — plans to develop a uniform data collection form and use a performance management system to improve tracking its Community Health Improvement Plan measures.
- The Minnesota Department of Health will work toward creating a stronger and more inclusive statewide public health system by meeting with health directors and other representatives from Minnesota’s sovereign tribal nations to share information about foundational public health services and to work together on steps to implement them.
- Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties, in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area, will work together to establish consistent communications around regional wildfire smoke preparation and response, and plan eventually to adapt the model to address other air pollution events like smog.
- The Washington State Association of Local Public Health Officials will bring together local health jurisdictions, tribal nations, the state department of health and the state board of health to identify cross-jurisdictional sharing models to implement foundational public health services throughout the state.
- The Silver Thread Public Health District – the result of a two-county health department merger in 2016 – will measure how the merger has impacted service quality, customer satisfaction and cost in the area of environmental health protection and also in the areas of administration and management.
- Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency Public Health Branch in California and the Tule River Tribe will develop a strategic plan to engage in CJS to overcome challenges accessing health care services, including mental health services.
We are excited to be working with these teams on their CJS initiatives. If you are interested in participating in the Small Grants Program, our next CFP will be released in early 2020. Watch your email for more details.
If you have questions about this or other programs from the Center, please email me.
— Gianfranco Pezzino, Director