Getting Started: How to focus the initiation of a community collaborative effort

Using the Ten Essential Services of Public Health as the point of focus is a proven method for identifying community stakeholders to promote change. The National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) suggests this strategy to bring stakeholders to the table and help them identify their part in keeping the public healthy. This method of collaboration is also an easy way to get everyone on the same page and moving in the same direction. The Ten Essential Services of Public Health, with changes defined by NACCHO in their Guidelines for Achieving Health Equity in Public Health Practice, follow:

1. Monitor health status and track the conditions that influence health issues facing the community
2. Protect people from health problems and health hazards
3. Give people information they need to act collectively in improving their health
4. Engage with the community to identify and eliminate health inequities
5. Develop public health policies and plans
6. Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety
7. Link people to needed personal health services and assure the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable
8. Maintain a competent public health workforce
9. Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility and quality of personal and population-based health services
10. Contribute to and apply the evidence base of public health and relevant fields
11. Have each organization identify where their activities fall within the Ten Essential Services of Public Health.