HOW TO COLLABORATE IN SUPPORT OF STUDENT HEALTH AND WELLNESS

HOW TO MAKE IT HAPPEN

• Engage a team of stakeholders that represents the diversity of the community. Invest the time necessary to build relationships and establish trust.
• Develop a common language and knowledge base around issues of health, wellness, and equity
• Identify a school- or community-based coordinator for the health collaboration initiative.
• Create a vision, values, and mission statement for the collaborative effort, as well as other formal agreements on expectations, partners’ responsibilities, data-sharing, and other areas as necessary.
• Carry out a data-based community health assessment to identify available resources and needs.
• Prioritize measurable and attainable community/school health goals and develop agreed-upon measures to evaluate program effectiveness.
• Develop a collaborative plan and define partners’ commitments and contributions.
• Maintain regular communications among partners and with the community.
• Invest in leadership capacity and development to ensure sustainability.
• Engage in ongoing data-based reflective evaluation of program implementation and effectiveness, and adjust practices as necessary.

EXEMPLARS IN PRACTICE

RESOURCES

Aetna Foundation
Health-focused funding opportunities.

TRAINING MATERIALS

Work Together, County Health Rankings and Roadmaps
Specific steps to building a team to support community health. Very practical, multiple links to other tools.
Also see parent website for guidance on other facets of improving community health.

Working Together for Healthier Communities: A Framework for Collaboration Among Community Partnerships, Support Organizations, and Funders.
This is a high-level discussion of ways that state and community partnerships, support organizations, and grantmakers can collaborate to foster systemic change.

Community Health Assessment and Group Evaluation (CHANGE) Tool
How to create a team to assess community health strengths and needs, plan action steps, and evaluate outcomes.

ASCD/CDC Whole Child Initiative Overview
This publication is more general than practical; however, page 13 provides a helpful graphic on the components of child wellness, and the introduction offers an excellent rationale for the interrelatedness of health and learning.

RESEARCH