RISE’s annual summit is quickly approaching, taking place April 15-17 in Louisville, Ky. For the first time, the summit will feature an all-inclusive registration, including access to four interactive preconference workshops. Ahead of The RISE Summit on SDoH, RISE spoke with the INSPIRE team, who will lead one of the workshops on the first day of the conference.
A national initiative uniting key organizations and experts with lived experience, INSPIRE (Initiating National Strategies for Partnership, Inclusion, and Real Engagement) has charted a strategic roadmap for how to advance the practice of meaningful community engagement in health care. The team is comprised of five national organizations─ the Camden Coalition, The Center to Advance Consumer Partnership, Community Catalyst, Institute for Patient-and Family-Centered Care, and PFCCpartners─ and six individuals with firsthand experience navigating health and social care systems.
Beginning in May 2023, INSPIRE led a year-long research and strategic planning, engaging over 300 individuals nationwide to assess community engagement (CE) in health care, identify best practices, and create a roadmap to advance its impact.
A key finding through their research: Organizations want to engage their communities, but many don’t know where to start.
“There are a lot of health and social care organizations that are very interested in community engagement,” said Evelyne Kane, associate director, community engagement and capacity building, Camden Coalition. “A lot of organizations will say it's a strategic priority. Alongside that growing interest, we heard a lot of people say, ‘I don't really know how to do it’.
It's one thing to say we care about this. It's one thing to say, this is important, but it's another thing to know how to really operationalize what it means to build an authentic and impactful partnership with people in our community.”
From their extensive work, the INSPIRE team has established several priority areas as the most impactful ways to strengthen community engagement in terms of both quantity and quality, which they will expand on in the workshop:
- Supporting health care practitioners involved in community engagement work
- Aiding individuals with lived experiences in engaging effectively
- Establishing structures within organizations to facilitate meaningful engagement
- Addressing policy and structural factors that can enhance community engagement at a broader level
Throughout the three-hour workshop, Weaving the Threads of Community Engagement into the Tapestry of Your SDoH Programming, INSPIRE team members Melinda Karp, president and CEO, The Center to Advance Consumer Partnership; Stephen Hoy, chief operating officer, PFCCpartners; and Stephanie Burdick, a lived experience expert, will provide further insight into the extensive initiative.
The team will define CE, clarify key terms, and explore opportunities to strengthen shared language; present findings and recommendations from INSPIRE’s research and strategic roadmap; share their "nine dimensions of authentic CE" framework, offering actionable steps for health care and individuals with lived experience; discuss impact measurement and introduce a framework to build a "business case" for CE; share emerging concepts from INSPIRE’s CE practice profile development project; and facilitate discussion on CE successes and challenges to encourage shared learning.
The workshop, Weaving the Threads of Community Engagement into the Tapestry of Your SDoH Programming, will take place on the first day of The RISE Summit on SDoH, Monday, April 15th from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm. Additional registration, at no additional cost, is required for workshop participation. Click here for more information, including the full conference agenda, the complete list of preconference workshops, and registration information.