Additional Tools and Resources

Community Health Improvement (CHI) Overview

Following are additional tools and resources that will help you throughout your collaborative community health improvement (CHI) efforts, including guidance on how to conduct community health needs assessments (CHNAs), community health assessments (CHAs), and much more:

Potential Data Sources

The following resources provide data that may guide your CHNA efforts. Consider using local data sources—such as focus groups and town hall meetings with community members and stakeholders, hospital data on service utilization, local environmental, community and social services data, and local health department data.

CHI Guiding Principles

The following resources contain additional information about the underlying principles of collaborative CHI. The key concepts found in the Tools for Successful CHI Efforts section were derived from a review of these guiding principles.

CHI Framework Tools and Resources

Are you still looking for additional tools to suit your community’s particular needs or preferences after reviewing the tools listed in Tools for Successful CHI Efforts? If so, consider the following tools and resources found in the following nine sections:

Analyzing Problems and GoalsExternal: Go to the Main Section and Checklist tabs, for help in analyzing individual and environmental factors that influence the problem to be addressed.
Creating and Maintaining PartnershipsExternal: This tool provides guidance and additional resources for creating a partnership between different organizations, to address a common goal.
Developing Multisector CollaborationsExternal: This overview provides a readiness assessment, steps, rules, and other guidance on starting and sustaining multisector collaborations.
Health in All Policies: A Guide for State and Local GovernmentCdc-pdfExternal: Go to Sections 3.2 and 4 (pages 38–61) for information on engaging cross-sector stakeholders.
Proclaiming Your Dream: Developing Mission and Vision StatementsExternal: This tool provides an understanding of the importance and purpose of mission and vision statements, and help developing effective ones.

Community Member Forum Tools for Community Health Assessment and Implementation Planning:
The following are sample templates that you can tailor to your needs for planning, organizing, and executing various types of community meetings:
Tip Sheet – Engaging the CommunityExternal: This resource provides tips on engaging the community, as well as common challenges, as part of the Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) process.
Increasing Participation and MembershipExternal: This tool provides guidance and related references for increasing participation and engaging stakeholders.
Organize for SuccessExternal: This overview of the first phase of MAPP—Organize for Success—outlines steps for the planning process including development of a planning partnership.
Principles of Community Engagement: These practical guidelines help professionals and community leaders improve communication; promote common understanding; and strengthen coordination, collaboration, and partnership efforts among themselves and community members and institutions.

Communicating Information to Funders for Support and AccountabilityExternal: This tool provides the “why, what, and how” of communicating evaluation findings to a variety of audiences, including the public, stakeholders, and press.
Planning Before You Communicate ToolExternal: This spreadsheet helps you address and organize essential factors for communication planning, execution, and evaluation.
Template for Strategic Communications PlanExternal: This printable, step-by-step template walks you through creating a strategic communications plan.

Please refer to the tools located on the Sustain Improvement Results web page.

Asset-Based Community Development ToolkitExternal: This toolkit contains several asset-mapping tools, resources, instructional guides and exercises, and a capacity inventory worksheet.
Community Themes and Strengths Assessment At-A-GlanceCdc-pdfExternal: This assessment framework can be used to collect answers to key questions, to better understand community issues and concerns, perceptions about quality of life, and community assets.
Data for ActionCdc-pdfExternal: This guide addresses the importance of using data, where to find it, how to present it in a meaningful way, and more.
Data for Health: Learning What WorksExternal: Go to Section III, A, B, and C (pages 18-30) to review a summary of observations, highlights, and recommendations about using data, exchanging data, and protecting data.
Equity Atlas ToolkitExternal: This toolkit provides an overview of the development process, sample material, and additional resources to support communities in creating equity atlas projects.
Health Care Equity: Tool Kit for a Winning Policy StrategyCdc-pdfExternal: Go to the Toolkit Section for frameworks and techniques that can help you develop a successful policy campaign.
Healthy! Capital Counties (Michigan) Asset Mapping ToolCdc-wordExternal: This tool provides editable templates and worksheets designed to help uncover a community’s strengths, resources, and more.
Working with DataExternal: This resource includes tips and tools for using existing data and guidance for secondary data analysis.
Using the Rankings Data GuideExternal: This seven-section guide can help you identify and understand ways to use the County Health Rankings data.

Assessing and Addressing Community Health NeedsExternal: Go to Step 5: Define and Validate Priorities (pages 71–76) for an overview of how to set priorities, from establishing criteria to validation.
Priority Setting Process ChecklistCdc-pdfExternal: Go to pages 6-8 for assistance in using one of four priority-setting methods: dotmocracy, paired comparisons, decision boxes, and grid analysis.

Adapting Community Interventions for Different Cultures and CommunitiesExternal: Go to the Main Section and Tools tabs for an overview of reasons to adapt an intervention and questions to consider when determining how to adapt interventions for different communities.
Criteria for Choosing Promising Practices and Community InterventionsExternal: Go to the Main Section and Tools tabs for help with identifying, choosing, and prioritizing promising practices or interventions that are a good fit for the community of focus.
Developing an InterventionExternal: This tool provides support, examples, and additional resources for developing core components of a community intervention and adapting them to fit the community.
Goals/StrategiesExternal: This overview of the fifth phase of the Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) process includes broad strategies and steps for addressing issues and achieving goals related to the community’s vision.
What Works for HealthExternal: This tool provides information and quick links to help you select and carry out evidence-informed policies, programs, and system changes based on a variety of health factors.

Please refer to the Action Plan tools located on the Act on What’s Important web page.

A Framework for Program Evaluation: This practical framework summarizes and organizes the steps and standards you will need to effectively evaluate your efforts.
A Public Health Performance Evaluation PrimerCdc-pdfExternal: Go to pages 4–9 (starting with Step 5) for an overview and case-study examples of performance measurement and evaluation, as well as descriptions of how to use Run Charts to achieve programmatic goals.
Collecting and Analyzing DataExternal: This tool provides the “why, when, and how” of data collection and analysis to help you draw conclusions about your work.
Community Quality CollaborativesExternal: Go to the Tools on Measures, Data, and Reports on Quality and Efficiency section for a number of tools and resources that community collaboratives use when identifying, querying, and reporting on data.

Historical Information

The following resources informed the development of the Sara Rosenbaum PrinciplesCdc-pdfExternal and thus, indirectly, the key concepts shown in Tools for Successful CHI Efforts.

Best Practices for Community Health Needs Assessment and Implementation Strategy Development: archived information from 2011 CDC public forum; PHI proceedings from CDC 2011 public forumCdc-pdfExternal
Early Logic Models for Community Health ImprovementCdc-pdf

The additional tools and resources listed do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Page last reviewed: May 1, 2015

Content source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of the Associate Director for Policy