Catalysts for Action Toward Community Health
Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The goal of this project is to promote broad-based community health improvement in underserved communities in Wisconsin, through a low-cost health communication intervention.
The objectives of the project are to:
- Increase media advocacy knowledge and advocacy skills among the public health community
- Enhance community awareness among the local health community
- Increase earned media coverage of the results of the Rankings among Wisconsin's least healthy counties
- Increase awareness of the broad determinants of population health among local health and health care leaders
- Stimulate policy-makers and other community health leaders to engage in program and policy planning and implementation to improve community health and reduce health disparities.
Our strategies address these objectives in four phases:
1) Rankings and media advocacy trainings for local health department staff
2) Engagement of local community leaders
3) Purchase of local radio time
4) Technical assistance on community health improvement processes.
As the authors of the Rankings, the UW Population Health Institute is interested in expanding its uses, so that we are not only studying problems related to health outcomes but doing something about it. In discussions with public health officials and communications specialists, we asked two questions:
- How can the Rankings be used to enhance and broaden local discussion about why some areas have markedly different health outcomes than others?
- How can the Rankings, as well as other local data, provide important information for the community health improvement process along with perspectives on other community discussions?
To answer these questions, we received a two-year competitive grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to learn effective methods of stimulating local discussion and engagement in community health improvement efforts.
We believe there is a special need for greater discussion and community involvement in the counties with the lowest-scored health determinants (e.g., highest alcohol use, lowest access to health care or low high school graduation rate). These counties have the most to benefit from wider discussion and potentially spur greater change.
To that end, we've designed a program of assistance to counties called Catalysts for Action Toward Community Health (CATCH). This program is designed to:
- Increase media advocacy skills within the public health community
- Increase media coverage of the Rankings in Wisconsin's least healthy counties
- Increase awareness of the determinants of health among community leaders
- Increase skill and interest in program planning for improved community health and
- Broaden the network of individuals and institutions interested in improved community health.
We have identified the 20 Wisconsin counties with the lowest-scored health determinants. In order to be most effective with the limited budget, we chose 10 out of the 20 counties for assistance in the first year of the program. We will provide assistance to the remaining counties in the second year of the program incorporating the lessons learned during the first year).
Project Leaders: Pat Remington and Bridget Booske
For more information, contact David Ahrens.