Healthy Communities Of The Capital

Target demographics: advance public health primary prevention strategies

Geographic areas served: southern Kennebec County and beyond

Programs: chronic disease prevention policy and environmental change strategies to make the healthy choice the easy choice. HCCA engages with communities, organizations, and individuals in primary prevention strategies that include policy and environmental changes, and education serving Kennebec County, Central Public Health District, and the state of Maine. This prevention work is performed through direct and indirect contracts that carry out the governmental responsibilities for public health that include state of Maine and federal contracts to reduce tobacco use and exposure, prevent substance misuse and substance use disorders among youth and young adults, and reduce the incidence of chronic disease through opportunities for improved nutrition and physical activity. Other initiatives, including local food systems work, are supported by foundations. The settings HCCA works through include schools, social service providers, mental health and health care providers, businesses including farmers and retailers, and municipalities. With the support of foundation grants, HCCA leads programs that are aimed to support primary prevention when gaps in the federal and state funds are identified and when community need and support indicate that the need is high and the organization's capacity to implement strategies are high. Some grants also meet a specific need related to prevention efforts that are not adequately met by grants or health care or mental health care. Nutrition related projects include increased access to local foods, improved skills to process local foods, gleaning of foods otherwise not harvested, as well as building systems to support local food systems and paths to get local food to institutional markets such as schools and hospitals. Tobacco related projects include supporting people who experience mental health and substance use disorders to quit tobacco, and to support low income pregnant women to feel confident in making quit attempts. Additional community and organizational needs in the past two years include changes to Maine's public health infrastructure requiring new strategies to remain a strong comprehensive community health coalition. Projects in this category include support for increased organizational capacity and engaging community members in community health improvement plans that allow a community informed 3 - 5 year plan. Other prevention projects include lead poisoning prevention as Augusta/Gardiner are high priority communities, and staff at HCCA are occasionally contracted to support projects for which they are highly skilled. And finally, several grants and small funding sources have supporting community forums to talk about and address the substance use epidemic in this service area.