Atlanta Regional Health Forum
Strategic Plan
2006-2008

Adopted by the Board of Directors
July 7, 2005 and October 11, 2005 

I. Introduction by Chair of the Board 

On behalf of the Board of Directors, staff, and other volunteers of the Atlanta Regional Health Forum, it is my honor to introduce this strategic planning document. 

This plan is the culmination of six months of intensive work which was funded by the Healthcare Georgia Foundation and facilitated by Jacqueline Sherman and Associates, Inc.  It has been formulated using focus groups, one-on-one interviews with external and internal stakeholders, numerous management and staff meetings, and an all-day retreat of our Board.  Our Strategic Planning Committee, charged by the Executive Committee of the Board, has devoted an enormous amount of time and effort to this process.  Our discussions always have focused on one critical issue: how the health of our communities, both at the local neighborhood and the regional level, can be optimized. 

We have decided to focus our efforts on four areas of organizational competence:

• Fostering a shared vision of regional health in the broad context,

• Developing and disseminating data and information on health status and quality of life,

• Implementing a model of influence that builds collaboration to create the conditions to build and sustain healthy communities, and

• Identifying and responding to strategic opportunities to eliminate disparities in health. 

One such strategic opportunity to which we have devoted considerable attention in the past year is the opportunity of helping to guide the Atlanta Regional Commission to incorporate health into regional planning through health impact assessments and other projects.  Because of our evolving partnership with the Atlanta Regional Commission, we are expanding our reach to the ten counties served by them. 

In addition to thanking all of the members of the Strategic Planning Committee again for their strenuous and productive efforts, there are four individuals to whom I would like to express a special debt of gratitude.  Scott Ball chaired the Strategic Planning Committee brilliantly, and did much of the heavy lifting himself.  Dr. Buck Baker and Mary Kay Kohles-Baker brought ARHF to "LIFE" and have nurtured it with wise love and constant work through all of its formative years; without them nothing we have done would have been possible.  Finally, Dr. Joyce Essien, a guiding spirit of ARHF since its earliest beginnings, always returns to illuminate the path ahead.  

We remain committed to our “passion” of healthy local communities for everyone, especially for our children and grandchildren, through fulfilling our mission of transforming the health of the Atlanta region by encouraging, enabling, and empowering communities and individuals to achieve their fullest health potential. 

Thank you for your interest in the Atlanta Regional Health Forum. 

With warmest good wishes, 

Jon Neiditz

Board Chair, Atlanta Regional Health Forum 

Critical Issues and Strategies 

CRITICAL ISSUES:

1. There is no group overseeing health in the broad context in the Atlanta Region or building the collaborative relationships and communication necessary to create healthy neighborhoods and increase social capital.

2. Efforts to increase access to healthcare services and to eliminate disparities in healthcare outcomes are fragmented, frequently competitive, and insufficient. 

3. Reliable information on regional and local status of health and quality of life is either lacking, inconsistent, or is in incompatible formats.

4. Regional planning of the built environment and transportation does not sufficiently assess the health consequences to the affected population of projects, programs, and plans.
 
5. Internal management will not be able to meet organizational demand without hired staff, and the organization cannot sustain itself and its work without a reliable funding stream. 

STRATEGIES:

I. Become the source of and communicate actionable healthy community information on regional and local status of health and quality of life.

II. Create healthy neighborhoods and health equity in the Atlanta Region by effecting change in the physical, social, and political environments.

III. Ensure organizational sustainability and leadership. 

Goals and Objectives
(equally weighted) 

GOAL 1.     Foster a shared vision of regional health that strengthens cross- sectoral and collaborative strategies and bridges institutions.

Objectives:      1.1    Communicate constantly that health includes much more than health care services.

                        1.2    Develop a regional constituency for collaboration around health and partner with other organizations that share our mission and vision.

                         1.3    Be the convener of choice for regional health issues. 

GOAL 2.     Develop and disseminate data/information that monitors health status and quality of life to inform policy, decision making, and action.

Objectives:      2.1    Develop and regularly maintain a regional database of health measures that monitor trends in health status and quality of life across the region

                        2.2    Regularly analyze the database to report information in easily understood formats about the existing regional and local health status.

                        2.3    Regularly measure the progress of efforts to improve the health of communities in the region.

                        2.4    Publicize widely the existence of the database.

                       2.5    Collaborate with DeKalb and other regional counties on regular status of health updates. 

GOAL 3.     Implement a model of influence that expands cross-sectoral partnerships to create the conditions that are required to build and sustain healthy communities.

Objectives:       3.1    Integrate health considerations into planning processes with Health Impact Assessments (HIA) and other tools.

                        3.2    Accelerate the adoption of state of the art methods, strategies, and best practices that promote health and reduce the burden of preventable disease and disability.

                         3.3    Develop and implement community based participatory processes to enhance social capital of communities. 

GOAL 4.     Identify and respond to strategic opportunities to eliminate barriers to healthcare access and disparities in healthcare outcomes.

Objectives:      4.1    Present data regularly that describes barriers to healthcare access and disparities in healthcare outcomes and their relationship to root causes and the social determinants of health

                         4.2    Maintain relationships with the regional health care service providers as well as community representatives with interest in this issue.

                         4.3    Mobilize this network of individuals and institutions around opportunities for regional coordination and action. 

GOAL 5.     Design an organizational structure and a plan for developing the resources and capacity to implement the strategic plan.

Objectives:      5.1    Diversify and expand ARHF’s funding base.

                        5.2    Develop a succession plan for staff and board leadership and a board development plan.