Practitioners describe how collaboration among state agencies and local organizations help address longstanding inequities.
State agency staff members and leaders of nonprofit social service organizations report multiple advantages to using a cross-sector approach to address health inequities—preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are caused by social, economic, and environmental factors. Addressing these complex problems requires collaboration among state agencies—such as departments of health, environment, transportation, and social services—and community partners.
The potential benefits of these joint efforts are clear. When state agencies work closely with community-based organizations, they can further their reach and impact, promote equity, involve stakeholders and local residents in decision making, and better meet community and social needs. These efforts can diminish longstanding silos—in work, processes, and focus—resulting from narrow funding streams and complicated bureaucratic structures. Concentrating shared attention on problems can lead to solutions that better align resources and improve systems and health outcomes. Once the critical infrastructure and relationships have been established, such collaboration can be applied to other issues, in health equity and beyond. (author introduction)