Focus on What’s Important: Webinar Recap

On July 10 the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps webinar series profiled Bexar County, Texas, where collaborators used the National Association of County and City Health Officials' Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) tool to guide their Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP).

After creating a shared vision, values, and operating principles for their process, members of the Core Planning Group established criteria for selecting priority public health issues and followed a process to determine five health priority areas for further action.

Here are some lessons Bexar County has learned about focusing on what's important:

• Set three to five priorities.
• Consider other community assessments and priorities when selecting priorities. (For example, Bexar County compiled findings and recommendations from six community reports and assessments into a one-page comparison document.)
• Work with partners to help them understand where they fit in the vision and direction of the plan.

You can learn more at www.bcchip.org, or by accessing the webinar recording and accompanying materials.

Other Helpful Resources

Whether you're just beginning your health improvement journey or are well on the way, visit the Roadmaps to Health Action Center to find guidance and tools for focusing on what's important.

• Use our Start Guide to help you select priorities for local health improvement.
• Use our Act Guide for tips about implementing the prioritization process.
• Use Priority Setting: Four Methods for Getting to What's Important (from Ontario Health Promotion E-Bulletin) to learn about four methods for choosing between a number of priorities.
• Use Analyzing Root Causes of Problems: The "But Why?" Technique (from the Community Tool Box) may help you identify the basic reasons behind a problem or issue you're seeing in your community and highlight where you need to start to most effectively address the issues. This technique is particularly useful for exploring social and economic factors such as employment issues or community safety.

If you have questions or need help, feel free to contact us.