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3.5 STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH: MOBILIZING FOR ACTION THROUGH PLANNING AND PARTNERSHIPS Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) is a strategic planning process for improving public health services and outcomes in local communities. Similar to the organizational strategic planning model in Figure 3–1 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Fallon.9852.17.1/sections/24#fig31) , MAPP is a community-wide strategic planning tool developed specifically for public health by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A work group of local health officials, CDC representatives, community representatives, and public health experts developed MAPP between 1997 and 2000. MAPP “helps communities improve health and quality of life by identifying and using their resources wisely, taking into account their unique circumstances and needs, and forming effective partnerships for strategic action” (NACCHO 2010).

The MAPP process assesses all levels of organizations, including public, private, and voluntary organizations, as well as individuals, involved in public health activities in the community. This assessment creates a complete picture of the resources available to the local public system. MAPP is based on a community-driven and community-owned approach designed to assess and enhance a community’s strengths, needs, and desires, which will in turn drive the strategic process (NACCHO 2010).

Compared to the strategic planning steps outlined in this chapter, the MAPP model places a greater emphasis on the external environmental assessment in order to identify opportunities for public health organizations to more effectively secure resources, align needs and assets, respond to external circumstances, anticipate and manage change, and establish a long-term direction for improving the health of the community. MAPP uses assessment tools to determine the health status and community perceptions of health needs.

MAPP Process The MAPP process includes six steps (NACCHO 2010):

1. Organizing for Success: This step involves organizing the planning process and developing partnerships.

2. Visioning: The visioning step engages stakeholders in a collaborative, creative process of developing a shared community vision with common values.

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3. Conducting Community Assessments: Four community assessments provide information about internal and external environmental trends relevant to the community:

• Community Themes and Strengths Assessment: Identifies local community interests, perceptions about quality of life, and assets.

• Local Public Health System Assessment: Appraises the capacity of the local public health system to conduct essential public health services.

• Community Health Status Assessment: Analyzes data about health status, quality of life, and risk factors.

• Forces of Change Assessment: Identifies changing external forces and dynamics of the community and the local public health system.

4. Identifying Strategic Issues: Similar to the “identification and evaluation of major strategic issues and options” step in the planning model presented earlier, in this step, participants develop a prioritized list of the most important issues facing the community based on the results of the four MAPP assessments and the shared community vision.

5. Formulating Goals and Strategies: In this step, participants take the strategic issues identified in the previous phase and formulate goal statements and broad strategies for addressing issues, resulting in the development and adoption of an interrelated set of strategy statements.

6. Action Cycle: In this final step, the local public health system develops and implements an action plan for addressing priority goals and objectives. The plans are implemented and evaluated, with ensuing adjustments in the earlier steps as necessary. The final step in the MAPP process is similar to operations planning and implementation in an organization.

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