Friday, September 13, 2024
9/13/2024
Though significant investments and progress have been made in nutrition and physical activity, health disparities persist in obesity prevalence, chronic disease prevalence, physical fitness, food and nutrition security, breastfeeding prevalence, and early care and education across Georgia. This proposal details a plan to expand existing initiatives and establish new policy, systems and environmental (PSE) strategies and activities in the state of Georgia that will improve the capacity of state, regional, and local agencies to address these disparities effectively. The plan strategies focus on nutrition, physical activity, breastfeeding, and early care education obesity prevention/farm to early care. Specifically, this proposal seeks to address inequities in each of these areas within priority populations in select geographic regions of Georgia. By bringing together various state and local partners, including the voice of communities impacted by these disparities, this proposal will strengthen existing partnerships and expand their capacity to achieve improved health outcomes. With extensive experience in supporting state level PSE change, program development and collective impact evaluation, the Georgia Health Policy Center (GHPC) located at 55 Park Place NE, 8th Floor, Atlanta, GA 30303, will act as the backbone organization for this cooperative agreement. In close partnership with state and local agencies, such as the Georgia Departments of Public Health (GDPH) and Early Care and Learning (DECAL), Wholesome Wave Georgia, GA Chapter-American Academy of Pediatrics/GA Breastfeeding Coalition, HealthMPowers, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta/Strong4Life, we seek to improve outcomes in each of the 4 strategy areas. Examples of these outcomes include: Nutrition Outcomes • Increased number of youth/child-serving and community-based out of school time settings that adopt nutrition guidelines to support increased access to healthier foods • Increased uptake and expansion of Georgia Fresh for Less voucher redemption • Increased number of health systems and health clinics that adopt produce prescription programs Physical Activity Outcomes • Increased policies, plans, or community design changes that increase access to PA • Built environment intervention approaches adopted that connect activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations to increase PA • Individuals and communities enrolled in Active People, Healthy NationSM initiative Breastfeeding Outcomes • Increased access to programs that provide continuity of care for BF families • Regional BF coalitions and cadre of BF champions established who coalesce around a common agenda, state plan creation, and collaborate on integrated and reinforcing activities across regions • Replicate existing Pathway 2 academic program for pre-service human lactation professionals at 1 HBCU and 1 university to prepare IBCLCs Early Care Education Outcomes • Increased state level ECE policies and activities that improve nutrition, PA, BR and farm to ECE including established QRIS standards and measures for each strategies • Georgia FTECE provider network established as a hub for child care providers to access FTECE related resources, training opportunities, and TA support • Improved knowledge and adoption of FTECE strategies in ECE sites in target geographic regions & completion of GFTECE strategic plan objectives statewide Beyond the 4 strategy areas outlined, this proposal will also seek to improve the capacity and ability of partners in target regions of GA implicated by health inequities to adopt PSE change through regional capacity building grants. A collective impact evaluation framework will be employed to understand contexts and mechanisms that support regional PSE and behavior change. Quality improvement will be facilitated via a community-led monitoring learning and adaptation (CLM) framework to support modifications to PSE strategies and action plans to achieve identified outcomes.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
