STRETCH Events Support Sustainable Partnerships and Community Engagement

June 04, 2025 | Valerie Henderson

The STRETCH 2.0 Initiative provided state health agencies with opportunities for peer collaboration, networking, and support to improve health for everyone, particularly underserved communities. As part of STRETCH 2.0, the CDC Foundation, ASTHO, and Michigan Public Health Institute, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, completed a series of four national-level convenings. This series brought together public health professionals and subject matter experts who spoke on community engagement, communication, workforce development, and public health finance. These four session topics were created to facilitate and foster peer-to-peer learning among participating communities and state partners, promote strategies to create conditions that support good health and well-being for all, and expand core principles of STRETCH.

Community Engagement

Panelists Marc Nivet and Edward Ehlinger led the kickoff convening session, moderated by Alice Schenall, focused on fostering meaningful relationships between public health agencies and the communities they serve. Ehlinger emphasized that health thrives within these relationships, particularly in communities who disproportionately experience poor health outcomes. To mend and strengthen these connections, it’s essential to engage directly with the community, listen to their concerns, and integrate them into the problem-solving process. This collaborative approach empowers communities, builds trust, and positions them as partners in promoting their health.

Nivet highlighted the challenges faced when practitioners who have built trust within these communities are displaced, such as when a local hospital was torn down in Texas. By conducting more than 300 extensive listening sessions, Nivet and his team were able to establish a new clinic that effectively serves the African American and Latinx communities. This proactive strategy underscores the importance of considering community needs before changes occur, ensuring communities are not left behind.

To truly transform public health, agencies must adopt a collective rather than a siloed approach. This means fostering teamwork and collaboration across sectors, emphasizing both quantitative data and qualitative insights from lived experiences. As Ehlinger noted, it is essential that public health’s efforts empower communities to shape their own health futures.

Communication

The follow-up convening was led by subject matter expert Melissa Green and three STRETCH 1.0 recipients, Godwin Nwando (Nevada), Jade Ramsdell (Kansas), and Christina Pacheco (Kansas). In the pursuit of health across all communities, especially underserved communities, bi-directional communication emerged as a powerful tool for collaboration and understanding. Green emphasized this approach involves partners actively listening to one another and sharing insights to make informed decisions, much like a well-coordinated dance. Each participant brings their unique movement while responding thoughtfully to their partner, creating a harmonious flow that requires practice and intention.

Leveraging bi-directional communication with community collaborators fosters mutual understanding, ensures clarity by using a common language, and inspires partners to advocate for policies that support health for all communities. This collaborative dialogue is particularly beneficial when engaging new partners or building new relationships, as it brings diverse expertise to the conversation.

Voices from the field illustrate the effectiveness of this approach. Nwando highlights a community-based initiative from Nevada that utilized bi-directional communication to develop a health equity action plan. By conducting focus groups in various communities, they gathered valuable insights on reducing health disparities, ensuring that community voices were integrated into the decision-making process.

Similarly, Ramsdell shares how her department, established from a COVID-19 disparities grant in Kansas, thrived through open communication with other states. They adapted their outreach strategies by discussing experiences and learning from one another to serve their communities better. The Kansas State Department prioritized acting on the feedback received from town halls and team action meetings, reinforcing the importance of community input.

Pacheco emphasized that the community itself serves as a vital messenger, disseminating information in a way that resonates effectively with its peers and advocates. This community-driven perspective enhances communication, making it more relatable and impactful, especially when engaging with legislators on health initiatives.

Creating interactive and culturally appropriate resources allows the community to not only be heard but integrated into public health strategies. When evaluating projects, health departments should consider which voices are missing from the conversation and adjust their processes to bring those voices into the discussion.

Workforce

In the next session, Alicia Justice shed light on a crucial aspect of workplace well-being and development: psychological safety. This concept refers to the belief that individuals can voice their ideas, ask questions, and express concerns without the fear of punishment or embarrassment. Fostering psychological safety is vital for encouraging open dialogue and enhancing collaboration among teams, ultimately leading to better health outcomes. Justice outlined four essential stages for establishing psychological safety within an organization:

1. Inclusion Safety: This foundational stage is all about creating an environment where everyone feels welcome to share their experiences and inquiries. By implementing policies that promote inclusivity, organizations can ensure that a wide variety of perspectives are valued and heard.
2. Learner Safety: In this stage, organizations celebrate the learning process and acknowledge that making mistakes is a natural part of growth. By fostering an environment where learning is prioritized, team members can take risks and innovate without the fear of retribution.
3. Contributor Safety: This stage fulfills the natural human desire to make a meaningful impact. When individuals feel empowered to contribute their ideas and collaborate on challenging existing practices, it leads to a more vibrant and effective workplace.
4. Challenger Safety: Finally, this stage encourages healthy disagreement and questioning of the status quo. This is essential for driving positive change as it invites constructive criticism and different viewpoints that can lead to innovative solutions. Justice's insights emphasize that fostering psychological safety is not a one-time effort but a continuous process that requires commitment from everyone in the organization.

By nurturing these stages, public health teams can cultivate a more innovative and effective workplace, ultimately improving the health of the communities they serve.

Finance

The final session of the series focused on the publication "The Community As A Full Partner." Authors from this publication shared crucial insights on maintaining and nurturing community partnerships amidst uncertainties and evolving challenges. Moderated by Jessie Jones, the discussion featured notable voices, including Alice Chen, Denise Smith, Bisola Ojikutu, and John Auerbach.

One key concern was the risk of losing hard-won partnerships and community-led funding. Smith emphasized the need to reflect on the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, proposing that showcasing impactful outcomes can help reinforce the value of these collaborations. She highlighted that concrete evidence of success not only strengthens partnerships but also attracts ongoing support.

Chen took this a step further by underscoring the significance of nurturing human relationships. She encouraged small gestures — like celebrating birthdays and anniversaries — to deepen connections within the community. Additionally, she pointed out the importance of prioritizing individuals who have established trust within the community and navigating funding complexities while finding ways to support local organizations through non-monetary means, such as providing resources and technical assistance.

Ojikutu shared inspiring ideas for innovative budgeting strategies that redirect unused funds toward identified community needs. She reinforced that transparency in financial matters is essential for building trust among community members.

As the dialogue progressed, Jones raised important questions about equitable funding strategies. Chen highlighted the need for accessible communication and inclusive financial policies tailored for smaller organizations. She suggested utilizing qualitative data — like personal stories and visuals — to enhance reporting practices and make a more compelling case for funding. Ojikutu introduced the concept of participatory budgeting, empowering residents to vote on how funds are allocated, which fosters community engagement and ownership. Smith echoed this sentiment by advocating for dedicated funding for community-based organizations to address diverse community needs and challenge the limitations often posed by disease-specific grants.

Conclusion

These conversations brought to light the necessity of ensuring that diverse voices are heard and actively engaged in advocating for public health priorities. Resilience and continuous dialogue emerged as essential elements in overcoming challenges, reminding all of us to speak up for the issues that matter most to our communities. Building strong, effective partnerships is crucial for advancing health equity and ensuring the well-being of those we serve.

STRETCH 2.0 highlighted the importance of bringing together state departments and community-based organizations to foster collaboration and strengthen relationships. This intentional partnership is vital for advancing health for everyone in a community through meaningful systems change. The strategies shared here are adaptable tools that can resonate in any community. By embracing these methods, public health can empower every individual to thrive, regardless of their background or where they live.