The goal of this project was to promote broad-based community health improvement in underserved communities in Wisconsin, through a low-cost health communication intervention.
The objectives of the project were 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.
In discussions with public health officials and communications specialists about the Wisconsin County Health Rankings, 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.
Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Project Leaders: Pat Remington and Bridget Booske Catlin