Overview

In 2016 and 2017, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene established Neighborhood Health Action Centers (Action Centers) in disinvested communities of color as part of a place-based model to advance health equity. This model includes co-located partners, a referral and linkage system, and community space and programming. In 2018, we surveyed visitors to the East Harlem Action Center to provide a more comprehensive understanding of visitors’ experiences. The survey was administered in English, Spanish, and Mandarin. Respondents were racially diverse and predominantly residents of East Harlem. The majority had been to the East Harlem Action Center previously. Most agreed that the main service provider for their visit made them feel comfortable, treated them with respect, spoke in a way that was easy to understand, and that they received the highest quality of service. A little more than half of returning visitors reported engaging with more than one Action Center program in the last 6 months. Twenty-one percent of respondents reported receiving at least one referral at the Action Center. Two thirds were aware that the Action Center offered a number of programs and services and half were aware that referrals were available. Additional visits to the Action Center were associated with increased likelihood of engaging with more than one program and awareness of the availability of programs and referral services. Findings suggest that most visitors surveyed had positive experiences, and more can be done to promote the Action Center and the variety of services it offers.

Policy Points While the coronavirus pandemic has underscored the important role of public health systems in protecting community health, it has also exposed weaknesses in the public health infrastructure that stem from chronic underfunding and fragmentation in delivery systems. The results of our study suggest that the public health system structure can be strengthened through the targeted implementation of high-value population health capabilities. Prioritizing the delivery of value-added population health capabilities can help communities efficiently use limited time and resources and identify the most effective pathways for building a stronger public health system and improving health outcomes over time.

Overview

An article published online on August 12, 2021 on Governing.com entitled, "What Will It Take to Recruit and Retain Public Health Workers?," examines how state spending on key public health activities has been flat or in decline since 2008, and what strategies stakeholders are exploring to meet the need for essential workers. Read the article in full by clicking here.

An infographic provides an overview of Transformative Justice of Williamson County, a program designed to assist qualifying participants who have entered the criminal justice system by coordinating health and social services to improve health outcomes and reduce recidivism.

The research team includes the Public Policy Research Institute (PPRI) at Texas A&M University, Access to Justice Lab at Harvard Law School, and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Click here to download the infographic.

A new evidence brief focuses on the extent to which cross-sector collaborations are occurring across public health and social services sectors by examining the depth and breadth of social service engagement in public health activities. The S4A intramural team at the Colorado School of Public Health uses NALSYS data for this study.

S4A investigators at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health created a novel initiative in 2012, Housing for Health (HFH), with a three-pronged mission:

(1) to end homelessness in L.A. County, (2) to reduce the need for costly medical care services, and (3) to improve health outcomes for people experiencing housing insecurity.

The initiative provides permanent supportive housing programming (housing placement, financial subsidies, and supportive services) to homeless individuals who are high-utilizers of county-provided health services.

Click here to read the Estimating Cross-Sector Impacts of Permanent Supportive Housing in Los Angeles evidence brief and learn about lessons learned from a housing program seeking to promote care coordination across service delivery sectors.

The Systems for Action intramural team explores the intersection of law enforcement and public health using National Longitudinal Survey of Public Health Systems (NALSYS) data. They investigate the extent to which law enforcement agencies are currently engaged in local public health networks and how this engagement varies across communities.

Click here to read the Using Network Science to Explore Pathways for Reducing Policing-Attributable Health Problems & Inequities evidence brief.

Cross-sector collaboration and systems alignment can address social determinants of health, improve family well-being and create a more equitable society. The Building Wealth and Health Network (The Network) is a trauma-informed workforce development program addressing both behavioral and financial health. It was created in an effort to align Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Medicaid. Read the research brief by S4A investigators at Drexel University's Center for Hunger-Free Communities to learn about the challenges, and proposed solutions, to systems alignment.

For more information about this work, please see the following article: Weida EB, Egan V, Chilton M (2020). How trauma-informed programming to treat social determinants unveils challenges to systems alignment. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. In press.