Community Engagement and Participation in Perinatal Health and Policy Initiatives

1. Community Engagement and Participation in Perinatal Health and Policy Initiatives Tonya Gorham, MSW LA Best Babies Network

2. Perinatal Health in Los Angeles Los Angeles County has: • 88 Cities and covers 4,000 Sq Miles • Nearly 10 Million People • Approximately 152, 000 babies born annually. • 1 in 27 live births in the U.S. • 2 in 7 live births in California

3. Perinatal Health in Los Angeles • 90% 1st Trimester Prenatal Care • 1 out of 2 women pays for Prenatal Care with Medi-Cal (300% FPL) • 2 out of 5 women age 14-44 live below 200% of the poverty level • 1 infant in 15 is born low birthweight (>10,000) • 1 infant out of 185 dies before its first birthday (approx. 800 annually) • 1 birth in 16 occurs to a teen

4. The Healthy Births Initiative • The First 5 LA Commission recognized the need to fund programs to improve the health and development of all infants in Los Angeles County. • Healthy Births Initiative was developed to improve pregnancies and births. • Gave birth to the LA Best Babies Network.

5. Network’s Mission LA Best Babies Network is dedicated to achieving healthy pregnancies and births in Los Angeles by providing the infrastructure, programs, advocacy and support to increase the capacity of community partners to succeed in these efforts.

6. The Healthy Births Initiative First 5 LA Proposition 10 Tobacco Tax Funds Advisory Board Los Angeles Best Babies Network Best Babies Collaboratives Antelope Valley South LA Healthy Birth Learning Collaboratives HBLC Policy/Advocacy Long Beach Harbor Corridor Technical Assistance Quality

7. Healthy Births Learning Collaboratives • The Network coordinates the activities of 7 geographically based Healthy Births Learning Collaboratives (HBLCs). • HBLCs: • Are free, interactive, community-based meetings • Promote knowledge sharing, capacity building, collaborative planning and action among the networks of stakeholders

8. Healthy Births Learning Collaboratives Each HBLC develops an action plan for their unique geographic area. Areas of focus include: • Developing a Employer Breastfeeding Policy • Hosting provider breakfast forums on state’s Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program • Providing physical activity workshops in provider waiting rooms

9. Healthy Births Town Hall • September 2005 • The Network brought HBLCS together • Healthy Births through Healthy Communities Town Hall: A Call to Action • Goals : • To share community wisdom • Build action plans to address those issues • Create a community-defined set of perinatal policy priorities

10. Healthy Births Through Healthy Community Town Hall • 164 participants representing 113 organizations identified policy priorities. • Each geographic area identified priority action areas. • Each began to develop its community-defined Action Plan. • Recommendations for policy priorities were taken forward to health and policy leaders at the Perinatal Summit.

11. Healthy Births Perinatal Summit Tri-Partnership with LA County Maternal Child and Adolescent Health Programs and the March of Dimes • Goals: • Engage Communities • Connect Leadership • Build Sustainable Policies • Achieve a Unified Commitment to Action

12. Healthy Births Perinatal Summit Day 1 – Engaging Communities

13. Healthy Births Perinatal Summit Day 1 – Engaging Communities • Gallery Walk Poster Presentations from the HBLCs and Best Babies Learning Collaboratives (BBCs) on their priorities and action plans. • Priorities from the Town Hall were summarized and presented at Day 1 of the Perinatal Summit as a “Menu” of recommendations. • This “Menu” was used as the foundation for the afternoon breakout session discussions

14. Healthy Births Perinatal Summit Day 2 – Achieve a Unified Commitment to Action

15. Healthy Births Perinatal Summit Day 2 – Achieve a Unified Commitment to Action • Day 1 participants developed at unified set of perinatal policy recommendations to forward to key health leaders on Day 2 of the Summit. • Day 2 participants included representatives from health plan, foundations, key hospitals, advocacy groups, providers, county leaders and selected representatives from Day 1. • Participants prioritized the areas of action developing a set of final recommendations and committed to one or more of the areas of action.

16. Perinatal Summit Recommendations • Build upon & strengthen comprehensive perinatal services for all women • Assure all eligible infants are enrolled in Medi-Cal health insurance before leaving hospital

17. Perinatal Summit Recommendations • Integrate perinatal resources into the County information line • Promote risk appropriate perinatal care • Support every women to have a reproductive life plan

18. Perinatal Summit Action Plan • The convening of the Summit ended Phase I with the development of the recommendations • Phase II involved drafting the strategic action plan around the recommendations. • During Phase II we met in small working groups with those partners who committed to work on each of the recommendations.

19. Perinatal Summit Action Plan • Phase III, the implementation phase began in July 2006 for an18 month period. • The action plan is ambitious, but realistic and achievable with each of the partners playing an active role.

20. Implications • This community participatory process can be applied to policy planning and development. • Elevating community-defined priorities to a broader policy agenda builds a community investment in the process and leads to policy plans and strategies that are grounded in the community, supported by knowledge and focused on results.

21. Questions?