The indelible link between community health and economic well-being has never been more clear than during the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses rely on healthy employees, consumers, and partners to reach their full potential and optimize their bottom lines. Meanwhile, our communities need employment opportunities, stability, and equitable economic prosperity to ensure that all people can achieve their best possible health.

To support this shared vision of health, equity, and prosperity, businesses and governmental public health departments must move toward changing systems, investing in cross-sector relationships and collaborations to advance community health. 

Innovative, Multi-Sector Partnerships for Community Transformation (IMPACT) in Public Health, launched in 2022, fosters such collaboration by catalyzing and supporting partnerships between governmental public health departments and the private sector. This program aims to: 

  • Develop a cohort of public-private partnerships to strengthen the economic prosperity of communities by advancing public health and equity 
  • Identify where interests align and pursue opportunities to demonstrate shared value between and within the business and public health sectors 
  • Spotlight partnerships and document their role in driving sustainable improvements in public health

Applications closed in October 2022 and the program’s first cohort was announced in February 2023.

Maximizing Impact Through Partnership Teams

Applicant partnerships representing governmental public health departments and business partnerships with big ambitions, strong commitment, and a desire to work together differently to advance community health and equity were invited to apply. All partnership teams included leadership as well as staff who could support implementation, and many included other sectors and/or coalitions of businesses, such as chambers of commerce, and representatives from community-based organizations serving communities experiencing health inequities.  

Prior to participating in IMPACT in Public Health, teams shared some history of working together, ambitions to increase and improve their collaborative capacity, and a systemic, upstream vision for what they could achieve together. The program’s first cohort began work in January 2023 and will continue through March 2024.

Frequently Asked Questions