Community Partnership Grants – Health in a New Key

Key Community Partnership Grants support expansion of existing and well-establishedapproaches to addressing health issues through strength-based community development and the promotion of resilience.

Increasing our capacity to mobilize caring power now

THE COMMUNITY ASSET RESOURCE ENTERPRISE (CARE) PARTNERSHIP

CARE will implement a sustainable asset mobilization process that improves health status, reduces risky behaviors, and improves accessibility/sensitivity of local service providers. For the next five years CARE will focus on developing an effective group of 4-8 local primary leaders and then pursue a selected number of community health improvement campaigns. The individuals will represent different constituencies, interests, and backgrounds from CARE’s diverse community such as, residents, students participating in community service, or other community volunteers. These primary leaders will develop a learning network. They will take advantage of educational opportunities. They will participate in formal and informal training. As they grow in strength, they will partner with the community to do a better job of addressing challenging community conditions like poor youth decision-making, inefficient/ineffective use of health care resources, and unintended service barriers of health, education and service organizations.

CARE’s committed leadership and high degree of civic engagement give substance to the understanding that all people have strengths, skills or talents that can and should be used to help others.

For more information contact Bev Tittle-Baker at bevbaker@aol.com.

Tapping the fiber of the community as the first and most important asset

ENLACE POR LOS NIÑOS – UNITE FOR THE CHILDREN
Aid to Adoption of Special Kids (AASK) , Creciendo Unidos (Growing Together) and Arizona Department of Economic Security have developed the Enlace por los Niños partnership. Its goal is to increase the number of central Phoenix Hispanic families willing and able to provide foster and/or adoptive homes for Hispanic children. The effort will build on the strengths of the Hispanic community and the untapped resources that such strong families offer children who are displaced geographically and culturally from their families when under the care of Child Protective Services. AASK has developed an impressive network of resources for placement and adoption of children with special needs; Creciendo Unitos brings a long history of working with the Hispanic community. Together with DES and community volunteers, their goal is to create 200 new families capable of welcoming up to 400 children into their homes.

Passion for family is the first and most important asset for leverage for this program. By creating trust, adaptability and flexibility a new resonant chord is struck. The child has the strength of the community to rely upon today. The community has the child’s future to rely upon in order to stay strong tomorrow.

For more information contact Diane Walker at dwalker@aask-az.org.

Discovering the gift of strangers

PROMOTORAS DE BIENESTAR (PROMOTERS OF WELL-BEING)
The Arizona Children’s Association, Golden Gate Community Center, Isaac School District/Mitchell Elementary School and the Neighborhood Revitalization Project are working together to identify promotoras to serve as leaders addressing community health priorities. The project will focus on two health-related issues each year, identifying resources and community strengths that can be brought to bear on those issues.

The predominately Hispanic community of the program’s geographic scope will set the issues, priorities and outcomes. The promotoras will be developed to provide education and leadership on each issue. Their training and success will be mentored by the Arizona Children’s Association and Golden Gate Community Center. Both have long and successful histories of community engagement and development and have consistently achieved their program goals through collaborative efforts with other public and private organizations.

This program is driven by the insights and strengths of previously marginalized community members. Working from the ground up to know what health issues matter most means developing leadership and accountability from within and helps us all be a better part of the right solutions.

For more information contact Marc Kellenberger at mkellenberger@arizonachildren.org.

Changing frequencies from risks to success factors

THE FAMILY HEALTH PARTNERSHIPS PROGRAM (FHP)
The Maricopa County Department of Public Health and The Alliance for Innovations in Health Care have partnered together on this project. Under the FHP banner they will collaborate to measurably improve maternal and infant outcomes in South Phoenix and Maryvale. First, the group will map and connect community assets. Next, they will discover inherent success factors related to positive birth outcomes in the communities. Finally, the team will provide resilience-based training of community members and ongoing technical assistance to engage and support the communities. The communities’ connectors will be key. Already the Program has identified partners such as Healthy Start, Phoenix Birthing Project, South Central Clinic, Chicanos por la Causa, Friendly House, Family Health Center and Women and Infant Departments at four area hospitals.

In the longer term the project seeks not only to improve birth outcomes in the area, but also to improve residents’ sense of control over the local environment, to strengthen networks of support, and to positively impact health and wellness.

Importantly, the project is evolving from a focus on energy-sapping risks and “fires” to already-present success factors, and tuning all players to the same channel. Working together and re-tuning strengthens the community fabric for the short and long term.

For more information contact Rose Howe at rosehowe@mail.maricopa.gov.