The Cross-sector Innovation Initiative (CSII) brought together 10 grantee collaborations working to build stronger, sustainable connections to better meet the goals and needs of the people they serve and ultimately improve health equity. Collaborations included representatives from public health, healthcare, social services, and community organizations striving to achieve the same goal. In addition to working in their communities, grantees participated in a Learning Community comprised of multi-sector partnerships working on alignment through innovative practices.
The goal of this initiative was to support, promote, and disseminate learning about the role of governmental public health departments in aligning efforts across sectors to improve population health.
Learnings from CSII emphasized what is essential in sustainable cross-sector efforts, the role and value of health departments in cross-sector collaborations, and understanding the unique challenges and opportunities that these collaborations represent for health departments.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and an increasing response to racial inequities, all grantees pivoted from their original project plan to meet the needs of their communities.
Progress Reports and Building Sustainable Collaborations Topical Brief Series
From July through December 2020, CSII grantees, along with the engagement of their communities and partners, have continued working to align sectors and work toward improved population health, well-being, and equity for all. Progress reported from all grantees highlighted the continued effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased focus on racial equity and justice has had on their initiatives. While some work has been delayed and many activities have been shifted, bright spots have emerged as partners continue effective collaboration to improve the health of communities. Read an executive summary of the latest progress reports and read four topical briefs that dive deeper into:
CSII Learnings
We’ve highlighted six roles governmental health departments can and often do play in cross-sector collaborations.
Shared Resources
Grantees were able to share innovative work, dive into challenges together, and foster shared learnings. View a one pager for each grantee (developed at the start of the CSII) and resources created throughout the initiative that may be useful for collaborations in your community.
Brief project summaries from the start of the grant period can be found here. Additionally, a summary of the first six months of the CSII can be found here.
