July CHIP Update

Dear Community Partners and Key Stakeholders,

It's hard to believe that we identified new CHIP priorities a little more than 5 months ago! Highlights of this month include:

• A second round of meetings with work groups around Food Security, Access to Safe Transportation and Recreation and Infant Mortality. Workgroups now have clearly established Results, have revisited data and identified more meaningful indicators to guide our work. And while there is a lot of process work on the front end of established working groups and direction for these next 3 years, some clear strategies are beginning to emerge.
• CHIP staff are working with community partners already convened around Substance Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence to identify the best role to provide value and support in moving these priorities forward.

For more details visit our CHIP Priority Work Groups - Spring / Summer 2016.

• We are on track to launch the CHIP Scorecard in late summer and CHIP Advisory can expect to preview and provide input at the next regular Advisory Council Meeting. Because of special events in August, there may be an opportunity to preview prior to the September meeting. 

A reminder to CHIP Advisory council that we are taking a brief July summer break from our monthly meetings, so please remove our July meeting from your calendars. Our August meeting date has been changed to August 16th at 8:30 to allow us to host a special presentation from Sharon Wise, a nationally-recognized trauma expert, to engage the community in a different conversation about wrap-around services and trauma-informed care as part of the community celebration of the opening of the Family Justice Center. The CHIP Advisory Committee has been offered an opportunity to host Sharon during her visit. To match her schedule, our August meeting date will be Tuesday, August 16th at 8:30 a.m. at MAHEC. Please mark the date on your calendar and plan not to miss this special opportunity. Sharon will speak for an hour and entertain questions for the last half hour of our time together. Feel free to invite other representatives from your agency to share in this experience. Sharon will also make a presentation to Mission Health caregivers on “Hope, Recovery, and Resiliency” at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 17th at 8:00 a.m. in the Glenn Theatre of the Owen Heart Center on the Mission campus. You are also invited to attend that presentation. During the remainder of her visit, Sharon will be on hand at the opening of the Family Justice Center and will give a presentation to the women who participate in A Room at the Inn. Read more...

Want to know actions that you can take today to support work in the community around CHIP Priorities? Here are 3 steps you can take today!

1. Help promote Asheville's inaugural Open Streets and consider how you can get involved!Open Streets Asheville launches on September 19th! Click here to learn about increasing awareness and support for access to safe and active transportation that meets the needs of all our community. We specifically need help to identify financial sponsors, volunteers and activity partners! Help spread the word by following us on Facebook and Twitter!
2. Increase awareness about food security in Buncombe County.Children First Communities in Schools' Success Equation initiative is focusing this month's advocacy messaging around Food Security. Click here to sign up for their Action Alerts. You can follow their Success Equation Facebook page to share their weekly message feeds!
3. Help struggling families make the budget stretch by providing the school supplies their children needs to be successful.The United Way has a School Supply Drive underway. Please help spread the word and consider making a contribution

You can also read more on our Get Involved Page.

Spread the word and help out community partners!

The Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce has launched a survey to help determine how the business community can best participate in addressing housing affordability.Please help ensure that this survey gets out as broadly as possible and the Chamber is able to hear from diverse voices across the area.

Children First Communities in Schools is hiring a Coordinator for our long-time, highly respected Project POWER/AmeriCorps program. Please help get the word out. Click here for the full job description and details on applying.

For more details and how you can participate visit our Partnership Support Page
Several additional ways for you to increase your understanding of health disparities and social determinants of Health

The 2016 Diversity Conversation: Transforming Healthcare Equality to Equity is happening on August 19th.  Be on the lookout for information on additional opportunities for CHIP partners to learn more from keynote speaker Arthur James. 

We also want to draw your attention to a recent New York Times piece on the critical importance of Early Childhood Education.  

Also a reminder to Like our Facebook Page so you won't miss more timely information