More than 100 local community leaders will convene Friday, Feb. 19, at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis to help lay the groundwork for implementing strategies put forth by For the Sake of All (FSOA), the multidisciplinary project began in 2013 on the health and well-being of African Americans in St. Louis.
Stakeholders will work in small planning teams to develop detailed action plans for each of these eight strategies:
- Increase quality of early childhood education and increase knowledge and utilization of existing resources;
- Increase access and support for Child Development Accounts;
- Build capacity around the coordinated school health model;
- Establish school-based health clinics in high-need areas;
- Develop a regional data center to collect, analyze and share mental health data;
- Address violence as a public health issue;
- Establish a coordinating organization to advocate for development, tax and zoning policies for inclusive, affordable housing; and
- Address social and economic barriers to health in medical settings.
The event, “Evidence into Action: Next Steps For the Sake of All, Part II” will be held in the Brown School’s Hillman Hall. It is co-sponsored by the university’s Institute for Public Health and Forward Through Ferguson, the organization that has been formed to continue the work of the Ferguson Commission.
“We are bringing stakeholders together to discuss initial plans for these eight strategies that address the common recommendations and calls to action contained in the For the Sake of All and Ferguson Commission reports,” said Jason Purnell, assistant professor at the Brown School and lead researcher of FSOA.
“This is the first such convening to our knowledge to tackle the ‘nuts and bolts’ of implementation,” Purnell said.
Each planning team will be facilitated by project planning professionals from BJC’s Center for Clinical Excellence.
The event is a follow up to a September 2015 gathering during which 60 stakeholders representing local nonprofits, funders, government, business, advocacy and academics gathered at the Brown School. At that time, they helped identify the eight strategies being addressed in this second session of “Evidence in Action: Next Steps For the Sake of All.”
For more information, visit forthesakeofall.org/.
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