Portland Health Equity Alignment

April 5, 2023 was the first group meeting of the Alignment post-pandemic, and represented a "reigniting" of the initiative with over 60 members in attendance. In the Winter of 2023, the Alignment’s Leadership Team reviewed a “crosswalk” by MaineHealth Community Health for Greater Portland, which took a deep dive into 4 local Community Health Improvement Plans (CHIPs) and two health assessment reports and teased out all commonalities and priorities of the compiled CHIPS. The plans and reports included Maine Medical Center Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) (2022-2024), Northern Light/Mercy Hospital CHIP 2022-2024, Portland Public Health Minority Health Report (2018), Health of Portland Report (PPH) (2019-2020), Portland Public Health CHIP (2022-2025), and Cumberland County CHIP (2022-2025). Through this process, the health reports identified Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) and Access [to Care] as two of three top cross-cutting community health priorities for Greater Portland. These findings were presented at the April 5 meeting, where the larger group decided that the focus for the Alignment's 2023-2024 cycle would be work related to Behavioral Health (SUD), Access to Care, and Social Determinants of Health (e.g., housing, food security).

The Alignment's second quarterly meeting of 2023 built off the momentum of the April meeting, with the MEG committee presenting a draft of the Alignment's Theory of Change & Logic Model. The MEG team also facilitated a group activity where committees reflected together on drivers of health inequities in the Greater Portland area, as well as brainstormed tangible ways to impact the identified inequities.
The Alignment leadership team introduced the "Closing the Gap" grant that the Alignment was recently awarded, which will focus on the project: "Bridging the Divide: Building a Multi-Sector Health Equity Accelerator Plan for Social Determinants of Health in Greater Portland." This project is a 1 year, $125,000 planning grant from the US CDC which will enable the Leadership Team, in conjunction with a Health Equity Consultant, to develop an implementation-ready SDOH Accelerator Plan by September 2024. The focus of this plan will be on Community-Clinical Linkages & Social Connectedness.

During the first quarterly meeting of 2024, the Leadership Team presented the newly established Community Health Worker (CHW) Committee, as well as the roll-out plan for the Alignment’s new online engagement platform. A status update on the CDC “Closing the Gap” grant was provided, which announced an RFP for a health equity consultant to develop a Social Determinants of Health Accelerator plan. Committees continued their work from the previous quarterly meeting by further developing their identified inequities & potential activities. Using a worksheet created by the MEG Committee, committees narrowed down their ideas into 2 categories: “Explore & Respond,” and “Monitor & Be Ready.” “Explore & Respond” entails cataloging existing efforts and highlighting what's needed to make them better, sharing these findings with relevant partners, and identifying potential next steps, collaboratively. “Monitor & Be Ready” focuses on monitoring policy & advocacy efforts and considering best roles. Each committee identified 2 priorities under each of the 2 categories, resulting in a total of 4 priorities for them to focus on during the 2024-2025 cycle. While reporting back to the larger group at the end of the meeting, Committee Chairs shared potential areas of overlap & collaboration between committees & partners.

The June 10th meeting served as the official kick-off to the Alignment’s partnership with Syra Health to develop a Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Accelerator Plan as part of the CDC’s “Closing the Gap” grant awarded to Portland Public Health. It was established at the top of the meeting that the Accelerator Plan will reflect & encourage progress toward each committee’s newly established 2024-2025 priorities. Malcolm Doston & Jason Collins of Syra Health both attended the meeting in-person to introduce Syra Health as well as explain their role in developing the Accelerator Plan. Syra presented preliminary results from an SDOH Accelerator Plan Questionnaire which was distributed to all members prior to the meeting. Each committee discussed & shared responses to prompts about their priorities & wishes for the Accelerator Plan. Syra compiled information gathered from the Questionnaire, group & committee discussions during the meeting, as well as follow-up meetings with each of the Alignment's committees into a “Summary of Findings” document. Based on the collected data, Syra found “medical mistrust” and “broadband access” to be two significant topics of discussion among Alignment committees.

Alignment leadership began the meeting by announcing the departures of Leadership Team members Alfredo Vergara, Axels Samuntu, Mardochee Mbongi, & Jiffy Kelley-Young & expressing gratitude for their service. Syra Health’s team joined remotely & gave a comprehensive update of their work with each committee over the past few months, including how that work is informing the SDOH Accelerator Plan. Syra presented updates from their meetings with each committee & its members, which centered around discussion questions stemming from the June 10th quarterly meeting. These questions included: “How do you see medical mistrust as a deterrent for the SDOH Plan?” and; “Broadband access and how limited it is with regard to the underserved population.” These discussions informed Syra’s “Summary of Findings” document from the June 10th meeting. Syra also presented updates from “office hours” sessions held with each committee to discuss their specific role in the Accelerator Plan. Syra also shared an overview of next steps for the Plan, including their ongoing partnership with the MEG Committee, who will oversee the implementation of the Plan upon Syra Health’s departure at the end of October. Committees were given time to work collaboratively on their independent projects during the meeting. Finally, Nélida Berke gave a status update on the Alignment’s incoming Policy Committee, whose process for establishment will be outlined in the Accelerator Plan.