Overview (continued)

One of the first steps in building a foundation for collaboration was the articulation of a number of common values and premises that served to guide decisions made by the group during the first year. These included:

1. This initiative was to be the beginning of a long-term effort to build medicine and public health collaboration throughout California.
   
2. Building collaboration at the local level is an essential component of translating medicine-public health collaboration into improvements in community health.
   
3. This initiative needed to incorporate the perspective of consumer and community organizations in all phases of planning and implementation if it was to be effective.
   

Having established these values, the Steering Committee developed a mission, goals and priority activities for the first year of the initiative.

Mission and Goals

Mission: The California Medicine and Public Health Initiative will catalyze and support long-term collaboration between medicine, public health and community organizations at the local and state level to improve the health of Californians.

Goal 1: To identify key leaders, as well as resources and barriers to building medicine,
public health and community collaborations at the local and state level in California.

Goal 2: To provide training, resources and support to catalyze collaborative projects
involving medicine, public health and community organizations at the local and state level.

Goal 3: To assess the long-term impact of collaborative activities between medicine and
public health, establish learning and communication forums, and disseminate information about successful programs.

Goal 4: To bring other key stakeholders into the initiative, such as managed care plans,
hospital systems, and the business community.

Implementation of this initiative was planned to occur in phases, with the goals and activities of each phase leading into the next. The focus of implementation activities is to build the capacity of medical and public health organizations to work with local communities to improve health.