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Health Equity exists when all people have a fair and just opportunity to be healthy – especially those who have experienced socioeconomic disadvantage, historical injustice, and other avoidable systemic inequalities that are often associated with social categories of race, gender, ethnicity, social position, sexual orientation and disability.

Over the past five years, the Northeast Kingdom (NEK) has been involved in several National transformational health equity initiatives. See below for more information:

Strategies to Repair Equity and Transform Community Health (STRETCH)

STRETCH 2.0 one pager

The goal of STRETCH 2.0 is to promote necessary skills, core competencies, power sharing and authentic relationships among state team members and their community partners to advance and sustain health equity through systems change.

Our Northeast Kingdom Vermont Team is one of seven chosen to participate, joining teams from six other states: Colorado, Hawai’i, Maryland, Nevada, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

 

Vermont Collaborative

Domain: Place-Based Initiatives: Place-based initiatives are collaborative, long-term approaches to build thriving communities defined by place, interest or action.

Vision: From Surviving to Thriving: A formalized NEK Health Equity partnership, led by historically underrepresented communities, mobilized for action toward a safe, coordinated and community-driven system of care.

Objective: By 12/31/2025, the VT STRETCH Team, in concert with other NEK thought leaders, will draft a proposed approach to community health that has better alignment between health equity-focused groups and initiatives; and that includes an updated structure and tools to improve equity, community engagement and leadership, effectiveness, capacity, evaluation, and shared funding.  This will result in an:

  • Increased number of underrepresented and underserved community members leading positive change and being paid to do so;

  • Increased number of community members and partner staff primed for collective change (knowledge, training, skills and supports);

  • Increased awareness, access to and use of community resources.

Milestones

  • Develop and agree to group agreements and operational practices that are grounded in equity, power-sharing, relationship and consensus (i.e., Oops, Ouch, Whoa: To identify, acknowledge and interrupt harm and practices rooted in white supremacy culture and signal a set of values that 1. Mistakes are normal / 2. Harm can be mended / 3. It’s okay not to know something).

  • Ensure transparent, equitable and survivor-driven financial and operational sustainability for NEK disaster recovery efforts through CY 2025.

  • Complete NEK Coordinated Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and use CHNA to drive regional priorities and workgroups/ Collaborative Action Networks (CANs).

  • Create a quasi-endowment to sustain health equity initiatives in our region (stipends to community members working on health equity and small health equity micro-grants).

Press

Events

Public Health Regenerative Leadership Synergy (PHEARLESS)

Fostering the growth of future regenerative leaders to advance health equity and well-being for all.

PHEARLESS (Public Health Regenerative Leadership Synergy) brings rising public health leaders together with community leaders to co-create sustainable solutions that advance health equity and well-being for all.

Through the 12-month PHEARLESS experience, comprising four learning modules and a culminating capstone activity, participants will develop the mindset and skills to transform systems, structures and policies, in partnership with community, toward a just and equitable future.

NEK United Team Application Video

Press Release

NEK United Team Capstone

Vermont Community Health Equity Partnership (VT CHEP)

The VT CHEP Community Partnership Framework was designed to improve health equity at the community level. Health Equity work begins with the Integrator staff collaborating with their local collaborative, in partnership with their Vermont Department of Health, Local Health Office, District Director. Support was provided by the Backbone organization and the Vermont Public Health Institute. Funding was from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support, under OT21-2103, and administered through the Vermont Department of Health.

VT CHEP grant structure visual.

VT CHEP Programs

The VT CHEP had three main components:

Goals

  • Create and support opportunities for a diverse range of partners, through community-led approaches, to collaborate in building healthier, more resilient communities.
  • Provide opportunities for training to the statewide learning collaborative.
  • Provide individual and group coaching supports to local collaboratives.
  • Support strategies to promote healthy communities and address health disparities.

Local Sustainability

  • Promoting community-led approaches to inform local capacity-building
  • Building relationships
  • Instigating change
  • Redefining power
  • Learning, sharing, and building skills
  • Building resiliency
  • Increasing infrastructure
  • Reducing health disparities
  • Increasing likelihood of preventing communicable disease transmission

NEK Collaborative Equity Work

NEK Community Engagement

  • VT CHEP Conferences
  • Action Circles Legislative Advocacy Training
  • Wisdom of Trauma Film Screenings and Discussions
  • FIN CAN Forward Strategy Sessions
  • Mentally and Physically Healthy Restorative Strategy Session
  • NEK PrideFest
  • NEK Neurodivergent Celebration
  • BIPOC Soul Food Sunday
  • Systems Thinking Tool Training Sessions: Connection Circles
  • Summer Institute for Restorative Practices
  • Landmark College Workplace Neurodiversity Summit
  • Holland Food Shelf Visit
  • Neurodivergent Professionals Working Group
  • Telling My Story

The VT Community Health Equity Partnership (VT CHEP) grant came to an end on November 30, 2023. The work continues! Communities across the Vermont are building on the foundation from VT CHEP to maintain and grow relationships and programs, and reimagine policies and institutional structures – all grounded in health equity and envisioned by community voices.