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Giving Tuesday 2022

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Giving Tuesday 2022: Join Us In Our Fight for Healthy and Equitable Communities

Join Us In Our Fight for Healthy & Equitable Communities  

IPHI strengthens health systems and policy, enhances conditions that promote health, and builds community capacity to ensure equitable health opportunities for all. We believe all people and communities should have equal opportunities to live and be healthy. 

This Giving Tuesday, consider a gift to IPHI as we work to dismantle health inequities and strengthen communities in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. IPHI’s work includes:  

  • Community Health Worker Initiatives: Working with our partners, IPHI supports the development, coordination, and evaluation of Community Health Worker (CHW) initiatives. IPHI helps conduct CHW and clinical care team training programs; design, coordinate, and evaluate CHW programs; build awareness about the value of CHWs across the community; grow and sustain the CHW workforce and CHW services, including laying the groundwork for policy change to enable CHW certification and more sustainable financing; and develop the Center for the Community Health Workforce and CHW professional networks.
  • Healthy & Equitable Communities Training  IPHI offers training and technical assistance to organizations and coalitions. Our training fuse theory with practice and allow participants to apply the knowledge and tools presented in training and implement them in their everyday work to create healthy, equitable, thriving communities.

Here are some of our targeted initiatives and coalitions in the region: 

District of Columbia  

The DC Healthy Housing Collaborative is a multi-sector coalition seeking to address substandard housing conditions that contribute to significant health issues affecting District of Columbia residents. The DC Healthy Housing Collaborative envisions a DC where all housing promotes health, wellness, and safety and is affordable. DC will be a city where all are welcome and can thrive in strong, resilient, and well-resourced communities.  

Maryland 

Prince George’s Food Equity Council works to improve the public health and community well-being of all who live, work, study, worship, and play in the County. The FEC believes every resident, regardless of race, class, or zip code, should easily access healthy, affordable, culturally appropriate, and locally produced foods. FEC partners and volunteers work to increase food storage and distribution, improve access to food assistance resources, and increase access to healthy food for food-insecure residents at risk for diabetes through enrollment in our food-as-medicine program, Prince George’s Fresh.   

Virginia 

ImmunizeVA is a statewide immunization coalition that strives to protect the health and well-being of all Virginians by achieving and maintaining complete immunization protection through education, advocacy, statewide collaboration, and the promotion of equity.  

Please consider a gift to help dismantle health inequities and strengthen our region. 

Maryland state employees: Charity Campaign (MCC) – 46-3039129 

Virginia state employees: Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign (CVC) – 201412 

Donate

Two Steps Forward: Racism IS a Public Health Crisis  

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A Statement from the Institute for Public Health Innovation Staff and Board of Directors: 

Last year, Virginia made history as the first southern state to declare racism as a public health crisis. It was an essential step in the long and challenging work of undoing institutional racism in Virginia’s policies, systems, structures, and norms. Then last week, The Washington Post brought to light a troubling perspective that underscores the challenges and urgency of the work ahead. Understanding racism and acknowledging its central role in creating the profound health inequities in our region provides opportunities to create the intentional change necessary to truly make a difference in the public’s health. 

This work begins with developing a shared understanding of how racism, particularly institutional racism, is defined. That work progresses by acknowledging the large body of evidence that illuminates the effects that racism has on individual and community health. Racism creates obstacles for Black and Brown Virginians to achieve their best health and for all of us to collectively address the stark disparities and inequities in health outcomes. Of course, Virginia is not unique in its history, or the ways that blatant and concealed racism affects the public’s health. This formal acknowledgment is one that many state and local jurisdictions have recently made to demonstrate their commitment to take meaningful action to address health inequities. 

While racism and gun violence are highly politicized, that does not take away from the evidence that these are significant public health issues. In addition, efforts to address them promote values that are important to share and reflect what the public health field is all about — humanity is precious and that everyone deserves health and well-being. Those in leadership positions are responsible for combining empathy with science to solve social problems and protect and promote the public’s health.  

After the Virginia resolution was passed, we partnered with the Voices for Virginia’s Children and the Virginia Public Health Association to host a 4-part webinar titled, “Racism is a Public Health Crisis in Virginia .” We encourage others to view the series for educational purposes and to identify ways to get involved. In the future, we intend to facilitate further discussions to highlight practical strategies and actions to continue to make progress. We are deeply committed to intentional action in collaborating with our many current and future partners. 

In closing, we express our ongoing support for the dedicated professionals at the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) who work tirelessly to promote health and advance health equity, often without recognition. VDH is an essential partner to our organization. Together, we have accomplished a lot to improve health outcomes. We look forward to working alongside the agency as we strive for equitable health opportunities for all Virginians.  

We hope this moment can fuel continued commitment among governmental and non-governmental organizations to work together to take another step forward in addressing racism as a public health crisis.  

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Article on Public Health Institutes

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The Institute for Public Health Innovation (IPHI) was identified as a public health institute example to follow, along with the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago. The article describes, “Public health institutes are nonprofit organizations that support efforts toward a more stable, robust, public health infrastructure to address health and social needs in the context of community amid intolerable barriers to good health along racial, ethnic, and other divides.”

Moving forward, New Jersey hopes to establish a state public health institute. Read more here, and be sure to check back for the Foundation’s request for proposals!

https://www.africanelements.org/news/how-can-we-prioritize-equity-in-public-health-rwjf/

Giving Tuesday 2021

Posted on by Taya Jarman

Giving Tuesday 2021: Join Us In Our Fight for Healthy and Equitable Communities

This Giving Tuesday, consider a gift to IPHI as we work to dismantle health inequities and strengthen communities in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.

The Institute for Public Health Innovation (IPHI) works to improve health systems and policies, enhance conditions that promote health, and build community capacity to ensure equitable health opportunities for all. We believe that all communities should have equal opportunities to live and be healthy. Here are highlights of some of the programs and initiatives we’ve supported in 2021.

  • Community Health Worker Initiatives: Working with our partners, IPHI helps develop, coordinate, and evaluate Community Health Worker (CHW) initiatives. IPHI conducts CHW and clinical care team training programs; designs, coordinates, and evaluates CHW programs; builds awareness about the value of CHWs across the community; grows and sustains the CHW workforce and CHW services, including laying the groundwork for policy change to enable CHW certification and more sustainable financing; and supports the development of the Center for the Community Health Workforce and CHW professional networks.
  • The DC Healthy Housing Collaborative is a multi-sector coalition seeking to address substandard housing conditions that contribute to significant health issues affecting District of Columbia residents. The DC Healthy Housing Collaborative envisions a DC where all housing promotes health, wellness, safety, and is affordable. DC will be a city where all are welcome and can thrive in powerful resilient and well-resourced communities.
  • Healthy and Equitable Communities Training To address the preventable and unjust health inequities found in communities throughout the United States, IPHI offers trainings and technical assistance to organizations and coalitions. Our trainings fuse theory with practice and allow participants to apply the knowledge and tools presented in training and implement them in their everyday work to create healthy, equitable, thriving communities.
  • ImmunizeVA is a statewide immunization coalition that strives to protect the health and well-being of all Virginians by achieving and maintaining full immunization protection through education, advocacy, statewide collaboration, and the promotion of equity.
  • Prince George’s Food Equity Council works to improve public health and community well-being of all who live, work, study, worship, and play in the County. The FEC believes every resident, regardless of their race, class, or zip code, should be able to easily access healthy, affordable, culturally appropriate, and locally produced foods. FEC partners and volunteers work to increase food storage and distribution, improving access to food assistance resources, and increasing access to healthy food for food insecure residents at risk for diabetes through enrollment in our food-as-medicine program, Prince George’s Fresh.
  • COVID Response and Recovery: We continue to partner with the Virginia Department of Health and Fairfax County Health Department to hire, train, and employ COVID-19 public health workers deployed locally for COVID-19 emergency response. IPHI is working side-by-side with VDH and Fairfax County Health Department to contain COVID-19 through effective case investigation, contact tracing, and community outreach and support. IPHI has also launched the Community Health Workers for a Healthy Virginia as a strategic intervention to assist at-risk communities and populations in the response and recovery from COVID-19.

Learn more about IPHI and how your donation can propel IPHI into 2022. For more information including ways you can get involved, visit here.

IPHI and Montgomery County Public Schools Release COVID-19 Wellness Needs Assessment

Posted on by Taya Jarman

The Report Offers Recommendations to Support Local School Wellness Councils in An Ever-Changing Environment

The Institute for Public Health Innovation (IPHI) and Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) are excited to announce the Supporting the Sustainability of Local School Wellness Council: COVID-19 Wellness Needs Assessment results. The report was developed in collaboration with Community Science, the project team’s evaluator.

Since 2016, IPHI has partnered with MCPS health to build the capacity of Local School Wellness Councils (LSWC) to reduce childhood obesity and improve student wellness. These local wellness councils have guided schools to identify their wellness needs and develop goals to enhance student health and well-being.

Due to COVID-19, project partners developed a survey to assess how active schools have been engaged in health and wellness efforts this past school year and to gather information on how to best meet schools’ health and wellness needs. This report summarizes the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from efforts to support LSWC’s and offers recommendations to sustain the future work of the LSWCs.

During this past school year, LSWC’s provided critical support to students and teachers around wellness. Schools offered fitness challenges and mindfulness sessions to support students emotional well-being. Schools hosted both virtual and outdoor opportunities and maintained connections with their students and families through home visits or a “walk-by” and virtual chat-and-chew sessions. In addition, schools were able to provide families with fresh produce and food assistance resources due to the significant economic impact COVID-19 had on family’s ability to access healthy foods.

Throughout the past four years, the project team has successfully implemented local school wellness councils in 110 schools, reaching 81,016 students, and developed the first School Wellness Toolkit in the state of Maryland that guides schools in how to create a local school wellness council.

To learn about their accomplishments, click here.  Funding for the assessment and report was made possible by the support of the Healthcare Initiative Foundation.

Immunization Awareness Month

Posted on by Taya Jarman

August is National Immunization Awareness Month. ImmunizeVA is celebrating in a number of ways.

In July, the coalition announced its newest mascot, Tracker. To celebrate Immunization Awareness Month, the coalition is hosting a Tracker-themed coloring contest. Expect to see her tracking vaccines across Virginia!

In August, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam issued a governor’s proclamation to recognize Immunization Awareness Month.  ImmunizeVA also launched an ‘Our Shot’ social media campaign.

Upcoming Coalition events include:

  • a presentation titled ‘Influenza in the time of SARS-CoV-2’ by Dr. Jon Temte
  • a Community Meet & Greet ImmunizeVA Meet & Greet on September 14 and 15
  • Coalition’s annual meeting on September 24.

Look out for daily social media content and weekly educational resources around different vaccine themes each month.

Happy Pride from IPHI!

Posted on by Taya Jarman

This month, we celebrate Pride – a chance to reflect on the progress made for those in the LGBTQ+ community, to learn about the issues most impacting their lives today and to speak up for those whose voices have been marginalized.

While the community has seen significant victories in the last year (including a Supreme Court case that protects all from workplace discrimination), the work is far from finished. In fact, members of the LGBT population continue to experience worse physical and mental health outcomes than their heterosexual counterparts. Healthy People 2030 has identified nationwide objectives to understand and improve the health of the LGBT population. It’s critical that we include all in our work to improve health equity.

Currently, much of the fight for LGBTQ+ equality is centered on transgender rights. Lawmakers across the country are actively considering legislation that restricts LGBTQ+ youth from participating in activities that match their gender identity. Violence against those who identify as transgender is at an all-time high, with 2020 being the deadliest year for the transgender community ever.

So, what can you do?

Start simple. Even the action of asking for someone’s pronouns and sharing your own in email signatures and social profiles, can help foster acceptance and show your support. Here’s a guide to get started.

If you don’t identify as a member of this community, there are ways you can help and support their journey. Here are 10 ways to be an Ally & a Friend.

This month is about more than parades and parties. Pride Month has its origins in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising – a protest led by black transgender women after police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City. To learn more about the origins of Pride Month, visit.

In the meantime, here are a few resources to learn more:

Equality Virginia: https://equalityvirginia.org/

The DC Center for the LGBTQ Community: https://thedccenter.org/

Equality Chamber of Commerce DC Metro Area: https://www.eccdc.biz/

GLAAD: https://www.glaad.org/

Human Rights Campaign: https://www.hrc.org/

National Center for Transgender Equality: https://transequality.org/

Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality (GLMA): http://www.glma.org

Healthy People: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health: https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender-health

IPHI’s Equity-Centered Training Program for Pandemic Emergency Responders

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For the March 2021 issue of its publication Elevate, the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) spoke with IPHI’s Dr. Carolyn Padovano and Christine Stewart to discuss IPHI’s health equity-centered training program for contact tracers and other COVID-19 emergency responders.

IPHI developed the training specifically its public/private partnership with Fairfax County Health Department in Virginia. To access this issue, click: HERE.

IPHI Celebrates 10 Years of Service: A Message from our President & CEO

Posted on by Taya Jarman

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Institute for Public Health Innovation. Since 2010, our organization has partnered with a range of public and private partners to strengthen health systems and policy, enhance conditions that promote health, and build healthier and more equitable communities for all.

As we face unprecedented health, economic, and environmental challenges in our region and throughout the world, we have witnessed the importance of building and sustaining strong public health infrastructure to protect our communities and provide innovative solutions to enhance health service systems. Now more than ever, we are grateful for our tremendous staff and partners that have played a crucial role in the history of our organization and our collective accomplishments to improve the public’s health and wellbeing across our region.

To celebrate and recognize ten years of service, we invite you to view our ten-year anniversary report to learn about our work and impact over the past decade.

In the coming years, we look forward to continuing to serve the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. region by expanding our initiatives and forging new partnerships to improve the health and wellness of our communities.

Thank you for your continued support, commitment, and partnership.

Sincerely,

Michael Rhein
President & CEO