The Family Health Partnerships program (FHP) creates sustainable partnerships with communities, providers, and agencies in order to assess and improve maternal and child health outcomes in Maricopa County. We inform, educate, and empower community residents, leaders, and health professionals about health issues.

FHP is made possible through the Arizona Department of Health Services County Prenatal Block Grant, in addition to several other partners.

We work to improve the capacity of the community and perinatal system to meet maternal and infant needs. One of our strategies is to institutionalize the concept of improving health as a community’s responsibility.

• Maternal and Child Health Data – We examine the available maternal/child health data, which community groups can use to develop collaborative and comprehensive strategies. We facilitate the use of community assets, partnerships, and resources in developing implementation plans.
• Assessment of Coalition/Partnership Effectiveness – We consider the effectiveness of a coalition’s current leadership, structure, processes, and stages of development. Once the stage of development is identified, the coalition can better determine areas that need to be strengthened and reinforce those characteristics through which success has been achieved.
• Leadership Development – We focus on a coalition’s current leadership status in regard to community stakeholders. We place particular emphasis on the types of leadership being demonstrated, commitment to the vision, and the level of community support.
• Strategic Planning – We identify priorities and develop strategies to address them. This process has a tendency to bond organizations and the people who can be instrumental in the processes of change, growth and development. In strategic planning, we include the broad range of community sectors needed to achieve the coalition’s goals.
• Determining Community Readiness – We evaluate five essential components needed in order for community change to take place. In order to assure that community members and leaders are aligned to achieve a common goal, we utilize a series of questions to stimulate dialogue among stakeholders.
• Community Mobilization – We engage the community through information, referral, and outreach on specific issues such as:
  • Prenatal care
  • Infant health
  • Community resources
  • Healthy lifestyles
  We then mobilize community members to take a participatory role in the community’s development and improvement.
• Best Practices Education – We present data and evidence-based program models in order to make informed decisions about which policies and interventions will lead to the desired improvement in the health status of the community.

Each year, the Arizona Department of Health Services requires FHP to provide an annual assessment of women and infant health problems and community assets, and then make recommendations for improved interventions.

We measure success through changes in the community which are likely to lead to improved birth outcomes. For example: