Promoting health-improvement strategies of the Central Michigan District Health Department

The Foundation's initiative, Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health (MATCH), was designed to help communities translate the County Health Rankings into multisector action that addresses the social, economic, environmental and behavioral factors that affect health.Under this grant, as part of an effort to help communities translate the County Health Rankings into sustainable action to improve health, the Central Michigan District Health Department (health department) and its partners will serve as a community learning laboratory for the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps initiative. Since the inaugural launch of the County Health Rankings in 2010, the health department has actively led Together We Can, a communitywide coalition to improve the health of the 196,000 people within its health district, a district that includes six counties that ranked in the bottom half of the state's 82 counties, with three of them in the bottom 10.In serving as a learning partner, the health department will work to implement its Together We Can action plan and collaborate with the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (UWPHI) on strategies to help communities across the country translate the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps into action. Deliverables will include a strategic communications and advocacy plan to guide implementation of the Together We Can recommendations; communications tools, including fact sheet, policy briefs, social-media outreach and talking points, to engage stakeholders in implementation; and two case examples to be shared with communities around the country. The grantee will not use Robert Wood Johnson Foundation dollars for lobbying, and the health department's in-house counsel will provide guidance to its staff on the lobbying prohibition.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $99,884.00

Awarded on: 5/29/2012

Time frame: 6/1/2012 - 11/30/2013

Grant Number: 70044