May 2019 CHIP Update

Dear Community Partners and Key Stakeholders,

Equity and Inclusion are much on our minds, especially as CHIP is working to develop our process to hear and engage diverse voices so that we can better understand the story behind the data that led us to elevate Birth Outcomes & Infant Mortality and Mental Health as focus health conditions. At our last CHIP Advisory Meeting we continued to use tools from the ABLe Change Engagement Model, to guide us in thinking about the continuum of community engagement as well as how to engage the range of voices in the way that bests respects their expertise and preferences for informing and/or participating. We often use a more detailed framework to talk the the community engagement continuum that may be helpful in considering how to engage community voices. And since it has shown up at meetings and workshops 3 times this month, it seems apparent that we are meant to share this version with you.  Let us know if it is helpful. In the meantime we continue to talk to CHIP partners about the voices that should be part of this work moving forward, whether it is hearing from and learning from their stories, co-developing strategies or supporting their innovative practices. We will be identifying dates and locations for community conversations in the next month and begin contacting you and other stakeholders as soon as we can.

A small group of CHIP Advisory met earlier this month to continue the work on shared language around Social Determinants of Health, building on the the concepts and values that were identified by CHIP Advisory in February.  This working group will meet at least one more time before draft language is brought back to the advisory to finalize as well as identify what specific tools we need in our SDoH toolkit.  And, as folks throughout the state are having substantive conversations around SDoH, we wanted to alert you to mark your calendar for Social Determinants of Health and it's Impact on North Carolina on June 18th at MAHEC.

April 11 - 17th was the second annual Black Maternal Health Week organized by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA). BMMA is a Black women-led cross-sectoral alliance that envisions a world where Black mamas have the rights, respect, and resources to thrive before, during, and after pregnancy. BMHW asks that we be intentional about centering Black women’s voices, stories and thought leadership. Cindy McMillan is one of the inspiring leaders and doulas from SistasCaring4Sistas that we are honored to work alongside. Please read Cindy's powerful call to action in honor of Black Maternal Heath Week here.

Our team of Evan, Hannah, Zo and Terri just returned from Nashville for the second in our Collective Impact Learning Cohort workshops. This workshop was entitled Implementing Equity Frameworks: Creating Systematic Change and provided many tools and resources that we will be sharing with you in the future. One easy-to-share takeaway from the training was this excellent Resources for Implementing Equity Frameworks list from the course faculty that we have added to our resource page.

And finally, we have presentations coming up at our next CHIP Advisory that we think you will be interested in. At our last meeting is was apparent that there still is not a clear understanding of the framework that we are using to think about, organize and take action around our focus health conditions over the next several months. We've asked Erin Braasch with WNC Health Impact to spend a little bit of time unpacking guiding questions and our process from a less "in the weeds" perspective that we think will be helpful for many of you.

We are also very excited to share a presentation on the CHA Listening Session qualitative data analysis at our CHIP Advisory Council meeting on May 2nd! Liane Ventura has been interning with us this spring semester from the East Tennessee State University, Master of Public Health Program and has conducted a in-depth analysis of the listening sessions that we believe you will find very informative.  For those of you who do not attend the CHIP Advisory, her presentation slides and the report will be available soon on our CHIP blog.

Keep up-to-date on more timely information and partner updates on our Facebook page. You'll also find resources and learning opportunities on our blog pages as well as ways to support our partners and engage in advocacy. To share your info on our Blog and Facebook pages, send content to Terri at anytime.

In appreciation of all you do!

The CHIP Team!

April CHIP Update

Dear Community Partners and Key Stakeholders,

We are well-underway in the process of moving from the Community Health Assessment (CHA) to the Community Health Improvement Process (CHIP) where we identify where we focus our efforts, identify strategies and develop action plans.  If you have been part of our CHIP or similar efforts elsewhere, in hindsight we often question whether we have engaged all the needed stakeholders. This CHA/CHIP cycle we are trying to spend more time upfront thinking about engaging community voices and stakeholders. During the CHIP Advisory meeting last month, using tools from the ABLe Change Engagement Model, members were asked to identify which stakeholders should be included in addressing Birth Outcomes & Infant Mortality and Mental Health. We engaged in a process to consider those who are experiencing the health condition; providing services; supporting efforts to address the condition; and/or making decisions that affect the condition. Of those, we then identified who are already included and which partners are currently excluded. From this exercise, a long list of current and potential partners were named. 

This Thursday the CHIP Advisory will be guided to consider the ways in which groups and individuals may engage to impact the focus health conditions. We will continue to identify stakeholders who have experienced poor birth outcomes, infant loss, and/or mental health issues; those who provide services and support these focus areas; and those who makes decisions that impact our focus health conditions in Buncombe County. Finally, we will consider at what stages and processes various stakeholders should be engaged and how to move forward to recruit them to partner in the CHIP. 

In last month's Update we highlighted the process the CHIP Advisory began around Social Determinants of Health. We revisited this process at our March meeting and a working group was formed with the focus to draft shared language for CHIP Advisory and partners to consider using when discussing Social Determinants of Health that underlie our focus health conditions and is the foundation of our community-based work. We look forward to bringing this working group together soon.

Natalie S. Burke of CommonHealth ACTION, keynote speaker from Monday's Health Equity in Action conference at MAHEC, spent much of her time emphasizing the importance of language and challenged us to reconsider when we use the words: vulnerable, empower, under-served, non-white and community. To read more about her thoughts onto better ways to communicate challenging issues check out How to Fix a Broken Tongue. The conference focused on addressing Health Equity in Buncombe County and the creation, implementation, successes, and continued work to address Birth Outcomes and Infant mortality by Mothering Asheville. To view some of the highlights, visit Natalie Burke's twitter feed @natalie4health.

Keep up-to-date on more timely information and partner updates on our Facebook page. You'll also find resources and learning opportunities on our blog pages as well as ways to support our partners and engage in advocacy.  To share your info on our Blog and Facebook pages, send content to Terri at anytime.

In appreciation of all you do!

The CHIP Team!