Power-building Partnerships for Health (PPH) is a project of Human Impact Partners to cultivate powerful collaborations between local health departments and community power-building organizations (CPBOs) to advance health equity.
Participants in our 2023 PPH Cohort during our June retreat at Essex Woods Retreat Center in Essex, MA
2023 PPH Cohort
Our 2023 cohort comprised four pairs of community power-building organizations and local health departments:
- Chelsea, MA: Housing Justice: La Colaborativa / Chelsea Collaborative and the City of Chelsea Department of Public Health
- Kansas City / Wyandotte County, KS: Environmental Justice: CleanAirNow and the Unified Government Health Department
- New Orleans, LA: Workers’ Bill of Rights – Economic Equity: Step Up Louisiana and the New Orleans Health Department
- Pasadena, CA: Building Solidarity, Not Charity, Toward Economic and Food Security: National Day Laborers Organizing Network (NDLON) – Mano a Mano and the Pasadena Public Health Department
2021-2022 Cohort
After additional COVID delays, HIP launched our second PPH cohort in April 2021. Funded by The California Endowment and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this online/virtual cohort involved partnerships with the Alliance and the Right to the City Alliance, a national housing justice alliance of grassroots community power building organizations. The 9 month cohort involved:
- Sacramento County Public Health & Sacramento Homeless Union
- City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services & Khmer Girls in Action
- Tri-County Health Department (CO) & 9-to-5 Colorado
- City of St. Louis Health Department & Homes for All St. Louis
For more details on the 2021-2022 cohort, please visit:
- Summary Evaluation of the 2021-2022 PPH Cohort
- Power-Building for Health Departments Webinar Series recording
2020 PPH Technical Assistance
In 2020, due to COVID and limited capacities, HIP pivoted from launching another cohort to working with the Alliance to support Santa Barbara County Public Health Department and their community partners CAUSE and MICOP’s work to protect farmworker health and safety during COVID-19. This partnership helped lead to the:
- Development of Latinx and Indigenous Migrant COVID-19 Task Force
- Documentation of community conditions impacting COVID-19 risk
- A Health Order on H2A housing to require COVID-19 control measures in temporary agricultural worker (H2A) housing and homeless shelters
- Increased attention to Indigenous workers’ COVID-19 risks and language needs in COVID-19 communications and outreach.
For more details on the Santa Barbara PPH collaboration, visit:
- Power-building Partnerships for Health: Lessons From Santa Barbara About Building Power to Protect Farmworker Health and Advance Health Equity — Journal of Public Health Management and Practice article
- California Local Health Department Actions for Worker Health and Safety During COVID-19 – HIP Report
- Power-Building for Health Departments Webinar Series recording
2018-2019 Cohort
HIP initially launched PPH in 2018-2019 as a California-focused pilot project in partnership with the Public Health Alliance of Southern California (the Alliance) and the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII). Funded by The California Endowment, the five California pilot sites included:
- Alameda County Public Health Department & Congregations Organizing for Renewal (FIA East Bay)
- Contra Costa County Health Services & Ensuring Opportunity
- Riverside County Department of Public Health & Starting Over, Inc/ Riverside All of Us or None
- Santa Barbara County Public Health Department & Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE)
- Solano Public Health Department & Club Stride, Inc.
For more details on the 2018-2019 cohort, visit:
Impact
To date, evaluations have shown that PPH has helped participating health departments and community power-building organizations develop a deeper understanding of each other’s field, theory of change, and power. In some partnerships, it has also helped increase and improve community engagement, collaboration, relationship building and trust. Some quotes from past participants include:
CPBO Participants
- “PPH helped us think about them [health department] as more strategic partners.”
- “We often separate ourselves and create silos. I love the fact that we’ve been able to clear the bridge and have this opportunity to move forward.”
- It was “eye-opening” because we “didn’t know that [we as] organizers could interact with the health department in this way.”
LHD Participants
- “At the county we are siloed and in general have not realized how much more impactful our work can be when we involve others.”
- “Being part of [PPH] has been helpful for me seeing the opportunity to do systems and health equity work”.
- “The learning, framing and work that HIP is bringing has been really helpful and helps frame things in ways that we haven’t had words for… allowing us to look at other possibilities.”
Check out the cohort evaluations for more details, the current PPH project page, or contact pph@humanimpact.org for more information!
