Partnerships and Leadership

Strategic partnerships and strong leadership are key to increasing program capacity. Collaborations across multiple sectors enhance ACEs, suicide, and overdose prevention programming. Partnerships improve coordination, increase access to public health expertise and resource sharing, and promote sustainability. By addressing shared priorities, partnerships can be mutually beneficial. In addition, multilevel leadership is an approach that includes collaboration between people and processes at all levels to make the greatest program impact. Using the Suicide, Overdose, and Adverse Childhood Experiences Prevention Capacity Assessment Tool (SPACECAT) can help your agency gauge your state's level of capacity with multi-sector partners and leadership interaction across sectors. Below is a list of beginner, intermediate, and advanced actions your organization can take based on your SPACECAT results.

Beginner Action Ideas

• What types of partnerships does your agency or program have? Conduct an informal scan of your agency or program's partnerships by identifying partners from the list below. Be as specific as possible:
  • Healthcare organizations
  • Behavioral or mental healthcare organizations
  • Primary and secondary schools
  • Institutions of higher education
  • State or community-level non-profit organizations
  • Philanthropic organizations
  • National non-profit organizations
  • Law enforcement or public safety organizations
  • Criminal and juvenile justice systems
  • Faith-based organizations
  • For-profit businesses
  • Media organizations
  • Community-based coalitions
  • Family support or parenting organizations
  • Veteran serving organizations
  • Medicare and/or Medicaid
  • State public health (e.g., public health, education, housing, transportation)
  • Local public health (e.g., city and county level public health, education, housing, transportation)
  • Children, family, and adult social service organizations (e.g., child welfare agencies)
  • Employment service organizations (e.g., labor and unemployment offices)
  • Housing service organizations (e.g., homeless services, community development offices)
  • Federal partners (e.g., CDC, HRSA, SAMHSA, DOT)
  • Health systems
  • Coalitions, taskforces, or multidisciplinary collaborative groups
  • Community groups
  • First responders (e.g., fire departments, police departments, emergency medical services)
  • Department of Human Services or Child Protective Services
• Determine if there are gaps in your current programming that would benefit from external partnerships (e.g., support for evaluation, access to certain populations).
  • What partners could you research who could support these programmatic gaps and request introductory meetings?
  • How would you ensure that communication is proactive? How can you be proactive in communicating with potential partners?
  • How would forming additional partnerships with other programs or offices within your organization strengthen your collective prevention efforts?
• Working with the potential partner, establish priorities for the partnership.
  • Why do you want to partner with this agency?
  • What benefit will the partnership serve to each party?
• Determine if funds are needed for the partnership to move forward.
  • Will you need to apply for a grant?
  • Will you need to have a contract to work with this partner?
• Examine the importance of non-traditional provider settings (e.g., homeless shelters, schools) in providing ACEs, suicide, and overdose preventative services.
• Connect with community champions or leaders to help engage different populations and gain trust in the community.
• Learn about effective communication styles and determine your personal communication style as a leader.
• Encourage your staff to partner with other departments within the health department or other organizations outside of the health department to advance shared priorities.

Intermediate Action Ideas

• Identify the level of coordination with your partners, whether internal or external, to the agency.
  • Are there regular activities scheduled?
  • Is there a common work plan?
  • Is there close coordination and regular collaboration on the work plan?
• Examine non-traditional avenues for partnerships and how those non-traditional partnerships might be helpful. Examples of non-traditional partnerships include business partners, gun shops, pharmacies, schools/universities, and homeless shelters. These non-traditional partners can assist public health agencies with moving injury and violence prevention (IVP) initiatives forward, such as implementing new policies or programs.  
  • Assess how your agency currently works with these non-traditional provider settings.
  • Create a list of non-traditional provider settings (e.g., homeless shelters, schools) in your state. 
• Working with the potential partner, develop roles for the partnership. What will each organization bring to the partnership?
• Develop mentorship opportunities within your organization for team members within and across departments. Ensure that there is open communication to determine the needs of staff when seeking a mentor
• Attend leadership trainings to strengthen leadership skills, such as communication, vision, and systems thinking, which will support an environment of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Advanced Action Ideas

• Working with the partner, conduct an evaluation of the partnership. Are all needs being met by both partners? Are there areas where skills need to be developed further? Does that include additional partners, trainings, and meetings?
• Reach out to non-traditional provider settings (e.g., homeless shelters, schools) in your state. Determine their needs and ways in which you can support their efforts.
• Create a resource map that outlines resources for your agency and your partner to determine overlap. How do these resources strengthen or impact the partnership?
  • Resources can include funding, staff time, or existing partnerships.
• Practice collective leadership. Determine ways to leverage networks to bring together communities and systems.
• Convene your leadership team and facilitate discussions around shared risk and protective factor approaches.
  • Can projects work together to scale up certain interventions?
  • Can staff be shared across funding sources?
  • Can you determine priority risk or protective factors to pursue collectively?

Resources

Partnerships

• A Practitioner's Guide for Advancing Health Equity: Community Strategies for Preventing Chronic Disease; Section 1 | CDC
• ASTHO Adverse Childhood Experiences Stakeholder Mapping Roadmap | ASTHO
• Fundamentals of Evaluating Partnerships Guide | CDC
• How To Create a Work Plan Template in 4 Steps | Indeed
• Partners | Washington State Department of Health | Washington Department of Health
• Partnerships, Coalitions, and Collaborations | State-Based Programs | Division of Oral Health | CDC
• Strengthening Partnerships Between Business and Public Health: A Roadmap to Advancing Community Injury and Violence Prevention | Safe States
• Why Diversity and Inclusion Matters in Public Health | CDC

Leadership

• IVP 360 Self-Study Series | Safe States
• Leadership Academy for Public's Health | NLAPH
• Leadership in Public Health: New Competencies for the Future - PMC | NIH
• Learning About Self: Leadership Skills for Public Health | NIH
• National Leadership Academy for the Public's Health | CDC
• Public Health Institute Leadership Development | PHI

Health Equity Questions to Consider

• Are community leaders currently involved in conversations about the intersection of health equity and suicide, overdose, and ACEs prevention efforts?
  • Review the article, “Community-Engaged Leadership to Advance Health Equity and Build Healthier Communities.”
  • Review the article, “Partnerships Among Government and Community Groups Can Help Boost Health Equity.”
• Does your agency integrate people with lived and living experiences into your prevention work? 
  • Review the chapter, “Embracing Community and the Wisdom of Lived Experience.”
• Do your existing partners span a variety of sectors and have experience working with underserved populations?
  • Review the document, “Developing Partnerships and Coalitions to Advance Health Equity.”
  • Review the video, “Lessons in SRPF [Shared Risk Protective Factor] Approaches.”
• Do your existing partners prioritize health equity within their work?
  • Review the chapter, “Partners in Promoting Health Equity in Communities.”
  • Review the document, “The Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Benchmarks: Standards for Organizations Around the World.”
• Do the public health champions in your jurisdiction seek opportunities to further discuss addressing health equity in public health efforts?
  • Learn about Rhode Island's Health Equity Zone Initiative.
• Are key partners and community members given a voice within your existing budgeting process?
  • Learn more about the participatory budgeting project and read about Rhode Island's participatory budgeting pilot.
• How is your agency working with partners to share and coordinate data that represents all populations within your communities?
  • Learn about community information exchanges.
  • Review Safe States’ “Research-Practice Partnership Toolkit.”
• What inclusive leadership practices does your agency implement?
  • Learn about successful leadership practices for prevention efforts.
  • Read about CDC’s National Leadership Academy for the Public's Health.