The Washtenaw Health Initiative (WHI) believes in the power of collaborations to break down silors and enable organizations to achieve more than they ever could alone. Since 2021, the WHI’s Collaborative Impact Award has recognized collaborations in Washtenaw County that have made a significant positive impact on community health. Voting is now open for the 2024 award and you have until November 12 to cast your vote below.
The 2024 nominees include:
- Supporting breastfeeding among Latina mothers
- Advocating for more public funds to support seniors
- Collaborating to improve community reentry services
- Reducing unnecessary criminal justice system involvement
Read more about the projects below and vote for the collaboration you believe has had the greatest impact.
Note: Voting is open to anyone. One vote per person. Voting ends on November 12th, 2024
| Supporting breastfeeding among Latina mothers Description: The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that infants be exclusively breastfed for at least six months and encourages breastfeeding, if mutually desired by mother and child, for two years or more. While breastfeeding offers a variety of health benefits for mom and baby, disparities exist among Latina women due to cultural and social barriers around initiating and continuing breastfeeding. To address these barriers, the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan (NKFM), with the help of Washtenaw County WIC Breastfeeding Lay Educator, Sheila Harris, created AmaMantando, a culturally inclusive breastfeeding support group for current and future breastfeeding Latina mothers. Meeting once a month, virtually, AmaMantando participants learn about the benefits of breastfeeding and common challenges, like not producing enough milk, growth spurts, and the mother’s emotional ups and downs while breastfeeding. Impact: Here is a quote from one of the group’s participants: I joined [AmaMantando] when I was pregnant after hearing a friend talk about it. I didn’t think about breastfeeding; I was going to give formula. I didn’t know anything about breastfeeding, so I thought “What do I have to lose?”. After giving birth, the pediatrician and lactation consultant pushed me to give my baby formula because it was “easier”. I remembered what I had learned [from AmaMantando]: anyone can breastfeed, you just have to try. My baby is now 3 months and has only received breastmilk. It was hard in the beginning, but this group encouraged me to keep going. I even have a freezer full of milk because of the education and materials I received here. [AmaMantando] teaches you so much. You never stop learning here, no matter how long you’ve been breastfeeding. You’re reminded you’re not alone, that it’s not easy, but you can do it. You learn what you are going through is normal. There is no judgment, you can ask any question, and everyone gives you support.” -Erika Sanchez, program participant Collaborating Organizations: National Kidney Foundation of Michigan, Washtenaw County WIC Lay Educator Sheila Harris |
| Advocating for more public funds to support seniors Description: Say Yes to Seniors started as a collaborative of agencies in the aging sector seeking additional public funds to support the work that older people need to age in place in Washtenaw County. Recently they became a ballot initiative campaign group when the Board of Commissioners agreed to put a senior millage on the November 2024 ballot. While many agencies continued in this collaborative, some agencies couldn’t formally continue due to advocacy limitations, yet their staff representatives instead chose to volunteer their time to keep the work moving forward. Impact: With advocacy from Say Yes to Seniors and support from the Washtenaw County Commission on Aging, the board of commissioners approved over $4 million to the aging network for services to older people, mainly in the areas of food, housing, and transportation as well as case management and other initiatives. All the agencies have shared the increase in the number of people and/or hours of service they were able to provide to our most vulnerable community members. Collaborating Organizations: Washtenaw County Commission on Aging, Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels |
| Collaborating to improve reentry services Description: The Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office Reentry Initiative works to engage people and help them to connect with services that support their stability – in the jail facility, throughout their release, and after they return home to the community. Thinking about an incarcerated person’s continuum of care and the ability to more fluidly bridge pre and post-release services, the WCSO built partnerships with established community-based organizations to provide services in the jail and post release. This initiative is funded and supported by those community based partners, by Washtenaw County’s Community Mental Health and Public Safety Preservation Millage, and by a federally-funded reentry grant. The Reentry Services team is a multi-disciplinary team comprised of more than 20 community organizations that provide both programming and direct services in the jail. With this collaboration, the WCSO has been able to improve screenings, assessments for higher needs, and the flow of systems and services throughout the jail to community continuum. A biweekly Reentry Partners meeting where all jail providers meet with WCSO staff to review and address the needs of people with upcoming releases. This group also reviews individuals in the jail who screened as medium to high risk/needs and together, as one team, and with the individuals being served, develops action plans for successful release and community connection. Impact: The full story of this expansion of services and community collaboration goes beyond what graphs and statistics can easily tell. The energy that has driven this change is grounded in the core belief that community wellness and public safety must be co-created through partnership with the community and the people we serve. This initiative is successful only through collaboration and in partnership with community-based organizations, by opening access to the jail for community organizations, and by engaging with and providing services inside the jail at the earliest point of contact. The WCSO Reentry Initiative has passionate staff and partners to provide services, listens to consumer feedback, challenges local agencies to shift resources to focus on service delivery to clients in the jail rather than waiting for them to connect in the community, and continues to adapt service delivery systems to make services more effective and accessible in the community, for the sole purpose of supporting community health, wellness, and safety. New services and partnerships created for this initiative include: Medication assisted treatment for opioids, occupational therapy group and individual sessions, an employment skills group, a vocational certificate program, a partnership with MSHDA to provide Housing Choice Vouchers to some of the highest needs individuals experiencing homelessness, a partnership with Michigan Secretary of State to hold Mobile ID clinics inside the jail, and a partnership for field students in the Eastern Michigan University School of Social Work to come in and assist with screenings. The WCSO Reentry initiative also partners with community organizations to help secure vital documents, partners with community organizations to deliver substance use and mental health services in the jail, education services to include High School Diploma, GED, Adult Basic Ed, post secondary connection, and special education service, literacy support, a cognitive behavioral therapy program, rapid rehousing support, rental subsidies, veterans services, and other several other services that support community health, wellness, and safety upon release. Collaborating Organizations: Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office, Washtenaw County Community Mental Health, Eastern Michigan University School of Social Work, Michigan Secretary of State, Michigan State Housing Development Authority, Packard Health, and more. |
| Reducing unnecessary criminal justice system involvement Description: The LEADD Washtenaw pilot is designed as a deputy-led, community-based initiative that provides an alternative to arrest or citation for individuals who have unmet basic needs that stem from mental illness, substance use, poverty, and homelessness. LEADD is designed to increase the number of individuals receiving community services while decreasing unnecessary criminal justice system involvement, reducing racial disparities, and promoting public safety and community wellness. LEADD is collectively stewarded and is aligned with the evidence-based LEAD Model that originated in Seattle in 2011. LEADD Case Managers use a harm reduction, street-based approach to meet individuals where they are at. LEADD case management is non-coercive and trauma-informed. LEADD is a long-term initiative and is designed to connect individuals with community resources, as well as inspire structural investments that expand resources and strengthen communities. Impact: LEADD addresses underlying unmet needs of individuals using a harm reduction lens and by connecting individuals with community resources that are specific to individualized goals. LEADD is a new system of response and care for those living with unmanaged behavioral health needs, deep experiences of complex trauma, cognitive disabilities, persistent poverty, and often long-term criminal legal system contact. LEADD case managers work alongside individuals long-term to provide access to health and safety resources, housing, food, legal advocacy, education and employment resources, ID and licensure, transportation, and other services. Since the initiation of the LEADD Washtenaw pilot in October 2021, LEADD has increased the number of individuals exhibiting behavioral health needs who are evaluated, connected to and receive non-criminal justice system related community support services. 29 LEADD participants have actively engaged with their LEADD Case Manager to establish and work toward personalized goals. LEADD aims to reduce disproportionate criminal legal system contacts for Black individuals and other individuals of color with behavioral health needs. Data suggests that LEADD is reaching Black/African American individuals. While Black/African American individuals make up 32.8% of the pilot area of Ypsilanti Twp, 48.6% of referrals are Black/African American, and 61.9% of engaged individuals are Black/African American. LEADD has also worked toward the goal of reducing the number of individuals with unmet behavioral health needs suspected of low-level criminal offenses in our criminal legal system. Of those individuals who have been enrolled in LEADD for a year or more, 71 percent have no arrests or fewer arrests in the year following their enrollment in LEADD compared to the year prior. Organizations: Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office, Washtenaw County Community Mental Health, Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office, Washtenaw County Public Defender’s Office, McLain and Winters Law Firm (Ypsilanti Twp. Prosecutor). |