HOW TO COLLABORATE IN SUPPORT OF STUDENT HEALTH AND WELLNESS
HOW TO MAKE IT HAPPEN
~ Engage a team of stakeholders that represents the diversity of the community. Invest the time necessary to build relationships and establish trust.
~ Develop a common language and knowledge base around issues of health, wellness, and equity
~ Identify a school- or community-based coordinator for the health collaboration initiative.
~ Create a vision, values, and mission statement for the collaborative effort, as well as other formal agreements on expectations, partners’ responsibilities, data-sharing, and other areas as necessary.
~ Carry out a data-based community health assessment to identify available resources and needs.
~ Prioritize measurable and attainable community/school health goals and develop agreed-upon measures to evaluate program effectiveness.
~ Develop a collaborative plan and define partners’ commitments and contributions.
~ Maintain regular communications among partners and with the community.
~ Invest in leadership capacity and development to ensure sustainability.
~ Engage in ongoing data-based reflective evaluation of program implementation and effectiveness, and adjust practices as necessary.
EXEMPLARS IN PRACTICE
The Children’s Health Fund
The Children’s Health Fund has provided care to disadvantaged children since 1987 and currently provides care through 24 pediatric units in urban and rural communities across the nation.
Community Health Navigation
CIGNA Foundation
2017
Community health projects supported by corporate responsibility foundation.

RESOURCES
Aetna Foundation
Health-focused funding opportunities.
TRAINING MATERIALS
Work Together, County Health Rankings and Roadmaps
Specific steps to building a team to support community health. Very practical, multiple links to other tools.
Also see parent website for guidance on other facets of improving community health.
Working Together for Healthier Communities: A Framework for Collaboration Among Community Partnerships, Support Organizations, and Funders.
This is a high-level discussion of ways that state and community partnerships, support organizations, and grantmakers can collaborate to foster systemic change.
Community Health Assessment and Group Evaluation (CHANGE) Tool
How to create a team to assess community health strengths and needs, plan action steps, and evaluate outcomes.
ASCD/CDC Whole Child Initiative Overview
This publication is more general than practical; however, page 13 provides a helpful graphic on the components of child wellness, and the introduction offers an excellent rationale for the interrelatedness of health and learning.
RESEARCH
How the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model Works: Creating Greater Alignment, Integration, and Collaboration between Health and Education
The Journal of School Health
85(11)775-784
Rachelle Chiang, Whitney Meagher, and Sean Slade
November 2015
Healthier Students Are Better Learners: A Missing Link in School Reforms to Close the Achievement Gap
The Journal of School Health
81(10)593-598
Charles Basch
October 2011
Building Sustainable Health and Education Partnerships/Stories from Local Communities
The Journal of School Health
85(11):810–816
Martin Blank
November 2015
Study of health-focused community school partnerships in Oregon; Oakland, CA; and Cincinnati, OH