Turning Point: Collaborating for a New Century in Public Health: A Report on the Last Turning Point Forum

Publication Date: November 2001

Publisher: National Association of County and City Health Officials; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Author(s): M.A. Bella

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

This two-day working meeting was the final forum of public health partnerships funded by three-year grants through Turning Point. Turning Point was established to strengthen and transform the public health system collaboratively, from the bottom up, based on the idea that a community is partially responsible for its own public health. The forum included community activists, business leaders, youth-group leaders, nurses, administrators, tribal council leaders, elected officials, university faculty members and others; all were involved in at least one of the 41 grants awarded by RWJF (to state entities) and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (to local and tribal entities). The forum began with small-group work organized by community type, geography and jurisdiction: the groups were asked to identify strategies for sustaining collaborative systems. This was followed by a town meeting during which groups attempted to reach consensus on which collaborative activities to sustain beyond the granting period. Subsequently, participants joined breakout groups and discussed different aspects of policy changes that could affect public health (data systems, youth, tribal partnerships, etc.). Day two focused on progress to date, the national impact of Turning Point's public health partnerships thus far, and on developing ways to use what has been learned to improve public health systems. The characteristics of productive partnerships also were discussed. At the close of the meeting, participants had policy objectives in hand, as well as clear ideas about which areas of their partnerships they wanted to sustain. Participants also discussed the possibility of forming a national collaborative that could serve as an information clearinghouse and organizational center.