CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) today announced the 24 communities that will receive funding to accelerate and deepen efforts to improve the health of their populations. Made possible by a $4.8 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and led by IHI, the communities will engage in an ambitious initiative called SCALE, or Spreading Community Accelerators through Learning and Evaluation. Three partner organizations – Community Solutions, Communities Joined in Action, and the Collaborative Health Network – will join with IHI in assisting the 24 awardees with developing further skills and strategies to improve the health of their communities as well as the mechanisms to spread effective community-driven approaches across the country.
“The interviewing team was very impressed with all of the SCALE applicants, and pleased to see such great interest from so many US communities looking to accelerate their health improvement journey. It was very difficult to pare down from our 57 finalists to today’s 24 awardees,” stated Laura Brennan, MSW, Immediate Past Chair, Communities Joined in Action.
Soma Stout, MD, MS, IHI’s Executive External Lead for Health Improvement, added, “Now, we look forward to bringing the awardees together to deepen their ability to create effective improvement and to generously share what’s currently working in various locales. Communities don’t need to start from scratch to reduce homelessness, ease poverty, or fill neighborhoods with healthier food options. Effective interventions already exist that can be more widely adapted – and that process happens naturally when communities start to engage with one another. The awardees all have in common a readiness and eagerness to learn from each other.”
Over the next two years, SCALE will match the four announced today as “mentor communities” – those with a recent track record of achieving better health – with 20 now designated as “pacesetter communities” or seeking to accelerate their pace of change. Kicking off activity in May 2015, the communities will assess their current assets and skills; begin building or enhancing a set of community-health metrics; and attend a Community Health Improvement Academy that will strengthen everyone’s capabilities in leadership, change management, and improvement practices. Each community coalition will work on issues as diverse as increasing food access to reducing substance abuse to helping more people gain healthy literacy.
“We are so pleased with the level of interest in this initiative from communities working hard to improve health locally,” said Robin E. Mockenhaupt, PhD, Chief of Staff at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “We look forward to seeing the learning, sharing, and impact that results from the efforts of these participating communities.”
SCALE marks the first community-based program of the recently announced global initiative, 100 Million Healthier Lives, led by IHI and 140 founding partners. The initiative aims to achieve the audacious goal of 100 million people living healthier lives by 2020, and so far has nearly 500 members representing public health, community health, health care, patient advocacy, policy, academia, business, and financing. Improving equity and creating a culture of health is a fundamental tenet of 100 Million Healthier Lives, and a common thread that unites all the SCALE awardees.
Communities not selected for the SCALE initiative are being offered the opportunity to engage with 100 Million Healthier Lives and receive some special assistance on mastering improvement methods, peer-to-peer learning, and the best ways to identify “bright spots” or effective practices and strategies. The 100 Million Healthier Lives and SCALE partners pooled their resources to make this option possible.
The final SCALE awardees include:
Mentors (4):
Cheshire County, NH
Cheshire Medical Center
Monadnock
Coalition for the Promotion of Breastfeeding
Monadnock Regional
Transportation Management Association
Monadnock HEAL Coalition
Cheshire
Coalition for Tobacco-free Communities
Advocates for Healthy Youth
Oklahoma City, OK
Oklahoma City County Health Department
City
of Oklahoma City
INTEGRIS Health System
Oklahoma City Public
Schools
Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma
Wellness Now
Summit County, OH
Summit County Public Health
City of
Akron
The University of Akron
Kent State University
Northeast
Ohio Medical University
Summa Health System
Akron Children's
Hospital
Akron General Health System
AxessPointe Community
Health Center
SummaCare
Williamson, WV
Williamson Health and Wellness Center, Inc.
Strong
Through Our Plan Coalition
Mingo County Schools
Williamson
Redevelopment Authority
West Virginia University Extension Service
Williamson
Farmers Market, My Mobile Market
Pacesetters (20):
Algoma, WI
Live Algoma Coalition
Bellin Health
School
District of Algoma
Precision Machine Inc.
Atlanta, GA
Atlanta Regional Collaborative for Health
Improvement (ARCHI)
Georgia State University Research Foundation’s
Georgia Health Policy Center
Atlanta Regional Commission
United
Way of Greater Atlanta
St. Joseph’s Mercy Care
Kaiser
Permanente
Grady Health System
Bernalillo County, NM
Bernalillo County Community Health
Council
Presbyterian Healthcare Services
NM Department of
Health/Health Promotion
Albuquerque Public Schools/Student, Family
& Community Supports Division
UNM/HSC/Office of Community
Health Initiatives/Pathways to a Healthy Bernalillo County
First
Choice Community Healthcare
Boston, MA
Vital Village Network Boston Medical Center
Orchard
Gardens K-8 Pilot School
Medical-Legal Partnership/Boston
Child
Witness to Violence Project
Boston LISC
Dudley Street
Neighborhood Initiative
Cattaraugus County, NY
Cattaraugus County Health Department
Cattaraugus
County Department of Aging
Healthy Community Alliance
Southern
Tier Health Care System
Salamanca Youth Center
University
Primary Care
Chicago, IL
Proviso-Leyden Council for Community Action
Loyola
Chicago Stritch School of Medicine
Proviso East High School
Triton
College
Loyola University Hospital
Cook County Department of
Public Health
Cleveland, OH
MetroHealth - Center for Reducing Health
Disparities
Buckeye Shaker Square Development Corporation
East
End Neighborhoods House
Fairhill Partners
Cleveland
Metropolitan Housing Authority
Buckeye Ministries in Mission
Hennepin County, MN
Hennepin Health Foundation, Hennepin
Healthcare System, Inc. d/b/a Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC)
Hennepin
County Human Services and Public Health Department, Public Health
Promotion
Northwest Hennepin Family Services Collaborative
North
Sky Health Consulting
Brooklyn Park, Minnesota
Jackson, MI
Jackson Health Improvement Organization
Allegiance
Health
Jackson County Health Department
Cradle to Career
Education Network
Financial Stability Strand
Laramie County, WY
Laramie County Community Partnership, Inc.
HealthWorks
Cheyenne
Regional Medical Center
United Way of Laramie County
Laramie
County Community College
Los Angeles, CA
Downtown Women's Center
United Homeless
Healthcare Partners
JWCH Institute
University of Southern
California, School of Social Work
Los Angeles Central Providers
Collaborative
L.A. Care Health Plan
Maricopa County, AZ
Maricopa County Department of Public
Health
Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD)
Banner
Health
Esperanca
City of Phoenix- FitPHX
North Colorado
North Colorado Health Alliance
Weld
County Department of Public Health and Environment
Sunrise
Community Health (FQHC)
United Way of Weld County
High Plains
Library District
Pueblo, CO
Pueblo Triple Aim Corporation
Pueblo City
County Health Department
Catholic Charities of Pueblo
Pueblo
Community Health Center
Integrated Community Health Partners
Raleigh, NC
YMCA of the Triangle
Wake County Human
Services
DHIC Affordable Housing
WakeMed Health and Hospitals
Wake
County Public School System
Fertile Ground Food Coop
Salt Lake City, UT
Ethnic Community-based Organization for
Refugees
Musungu HIV/AIDS Support Organization
Burundi Drummers
The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Community Outreach Division)
San Francisco, CA
Saint Francis Foundation
Saint
Francis Memorial Hospital
San Francisco Department of Public Health
San
Francisco Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development
University
of California San Francisco
Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco
San Gabriel Valley, CA
City of Hope
Neighbors Acting
Together Helping All (NATHA)
City of Duarte
Duarte Unified
School District (DUSD)
Sitka, AK
Sitka Health Summit
Southeast Alaska Regional
Hospital Consortium
Sitka Community Hospital
Braveheart
Volunteers
Waterville, ME
Healthy Northern Kennebec
Kennebec
Behavioral Health
Kennebec Valley Community Action Program
Waterville
Main Street
Family Violence Project
City of Waterville
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
For more than 40
years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve health
and health care. We are striving to build a national Culture of Health
that will enable all to live longer, healthier lives now and for
generations to come. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow
the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or
on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook.
About the Partners
Community Solutions is a registered 501(c)(3) organization that helps communities solve the complex problems facing their most vulnerable, hard hit members. We work from eight locations to assist communities throughout the United States and internationally. http://cmtysolutions.org/
Communities Joined in Action (CJA) is a private, non-profit membership organization of nearly 200 community health collaboratives – each of our members being committed to improving health, improving access, and eliminating disparities in their communities. Our mission is to mobilize and assist these community health collaboratives to assure better health for all people at less cost. http://cjaonline.net
Collaborative Health Network is a vibrant network that connects diverse stakeholders and trusted groups who are working to improve community health and healthcare, especially those taking a multi-sector, collaborative approach. Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and led by the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement (NRHI), the Collaborative Health Network is designed to accelerate the adoption of what is working locally, and to identify the next generation of challenges. http://www.nrhi.org/collaborative-health-network
About The Institute for Healthcare Improvement
IHI is a
leading innovator in health and health care improvement worldwide. For
more than 25 years, we have partnered with visionaries, leaders, and
front-line practitioners around the globe to spark bold, inventive ways
to improve the health of individuals and populations. Recognized as an
innovator, convener, trustworthy partner, and driver of results, we are
the first place to turn for expertise, help, and encouragement for
anyone, anywhere who wants to change health and health care profoundly
for the better. To advance our mission, IHI’s work is focused in five
key areas: Improvement Capability; Person- and Family-Centered Care;
Patient Safety; Quality, Cost, and Value; and Triple Aim for
Populations. Learn more at ihi.org.
