Closing the Gap with Social Determinants of Health Accelerator in New Hampshire - Project Abstract Summary While NH’s overall poverty rates are low compared to other states, there are significant pockets of poverty. CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index and CDC’s Places show that New Hampshire (NH)’s most socially vulnerable communities also have low access to healthcare, high rates of obesity, and high rates of chronic disease. These same communities are also identified in the ERS Low-Income, Low-Access Food Map, highlighting the connection between food access, transportation access, and chronic disease. NH Hunger Solutions (NHHS) proposes to build on its work to create a State Partnerships for Improving Nutrition Equity State Action Plan (SPINE SAP) and will expand this work through the creation of a SDoH Accelerator Plan that will address: Community-Clinical Linkages, Food Insecurity, and Social Connectedness. Funded by the National Association for Chronic Disease Directors, NHHS is leading the creation of the SPINE SAP in partnership with NH Division of Public Health Services (NHDPHS). That process has shown the need for multi-sectoral collaboration to address SDoHs to achieve health and nutrition equity in NH. Over 200 partners have participated in monthly meetings to create the SPINE SAP with about 50 attending each month. Using this momentum, NHHS plans to convene a subset of this group as a leadership team to create the SDoH Accelerator Plan. The SDoH Plan Leadership Team will meet monthly for 1.5 hours to complete the activities. Additional, hours for plan creation will happen through 1 on 1 meetings with Leadership Team members and multi-sectoral partners. NHHS coordinates and participates in multiple coalitions around the state that focus on food/nutrition security, youth homelessness, COVID-19 equity, public health policy, and healthy aging. At these meetings, NHHS staff will solicit input and feedback about the SDoH Accelerator Plan from diverse partners who may not participate on our leadership team. Most importantly, NHHS will hire Community Consultants with lived experience living in poverty to serve on the leadership team to provide expertise based on their lived experience to guide the creation of the SDoH Accelerator Plan. NH organizations have more recently adopted multi-sectoral and collaborative approaches to addressing public health issues, with NHHS as a trusted expert, leader, and partner on food access and food insecurity. NHHS has the experience, trust, and capacity to convene a multi-sectoral leadership team to lead the creation of a successful SDoH Accelerator Plan for NH.
