Building Together: The Power of “We” Over “Me”

For the past two years Health Net has been a part of a unique partnership involving Kent County Health Department (KCHD) and five grassroots Community Based Organizations (CBOs): A Glimpse of Africa, Grand Rapids Pride Center, Hispanic Center of West Michigan, Treetops Collective, and West Michigan Asian American Association, to collectively increase capacity for community health navigation that is culturally and linguistically relevant, based on best practices, and rooted in equity and empowerment. Our long-term goal: to reimagine how organizations in Kent County doing similar work (in this case resource navigation work through community navigators and CHWs) can work in alignment to share knowledge and support one another in ways that ultimately lead to increased access to resources for community members and a strong network for collective action.

History

During the COVID-19 pandemic KCHD received original funding from the Advancing Health Literacy initiative of the US Department of Health and Human Services.  Funding began in July 2021, with the project being implemented in October 2021. Six trusted CBOs were identified with a focus on developing and delivering culturally and linguistically appropriate COVID-19 messaging. As the pandemic stabilized this initiative shifted into a new phase, expanding the work to assist community members with the complex systems that address social determinants of health (SDoH).

Next Phase

Health Net of West Michigan was brought in to continue this work and support building a community of practice that would work collectively with the CBO partners to address access barriers and gaps in care while building a community of learning, expertise, and a shared knowledge base and best practices on the “what” and “how” of navigation as a practice.

The agreed upon goals were:

• • to find new and sustainable funding to preserve navigator positions
  • co-create and build common processes, knowledge, and skills to expand navigator expertise and reach
  • build capacity within participating CBOs
  • create a network of sustainable organizations using the best practices for navigation of SDoH services across the community

Shared Success

As a network, we were able to use braided funding to leverage partnerships for collective impact while allowing the CBOs to decide how they wanted to use their funds within their organization to meet their needs. We were also able to create shared community agreements which helped to build the foundation for our communication and the development of trust, growth, and learning. As a collective we had many conversations about our different organizations, what we do, and who we serve that expanded the cultural awareness of each partner about our various communities.

Our most tangible shared success was increasing the capacities of community health navigators to assist community members navigating the complex and often impermeable systems that impact social determinants of health. This was done through the teaching of Health Net of West Michigan’s Care Model© training and subsequent modeling between our case managers and our partners’ navigators.

Present Times

Due to limited resources, the initiative evolved into a formal convening network with the core organizations remaining committed to the united vision of what a community of practice could look like. Partners have each elected to share the responsibility of hosting meetings and regularly communicate about the barriers our communities face, the knowledge or capacity we have within the network to solve these issues, and ways we can collectively advocate for system change.