Deadline: 31-Dec-21
Nominations are now open for the Model Practice Award.
NACCHO’s Model Practices Program nationally honors and recognizes outstanding local public health practice and shares the outstanding practices through the Model Practices Database. By submitting a practice, LHDs contribute to the overall improvement of public health through effective evidence-based practice methods.
Eligibility Criteria
Model Practices are awarded to local health departments across the country for implementing programs that demonstrate exemplary and replicable outcomes in response to an identified public health need. Promising Practices are exciting approaches and strategies to local public health issues that are on track to becoming Model Practices. Each awarded practice was reviewed by a committee of peers, made up of other local health department professionals, and selected from a competitive collection of applications.
Additional Information
- Responsiveness & Innovation
- A Model Practice must be responsive to a particular local public health problem or concern. An innovative practice must be:
- New to the field of public health (and not just new to your health department) OR
- Creative use of an existing tool or practice, including but not limited to use of an Advanced Practice Centers (APC) development tool, The Guide to Community Preventive Services, Healthy People 2030 (HP 2030), Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP), Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health (PACE EH). Examples of inventive use of an existing tool or practice are: tailoring to meet the needs of a specific population, adapting from a different discipline, or improving the content.
- LHD Role and Community Collaboration
- The local health department (LHD) should have a role in the practice’s development and/or implementation. Additionally, the practice should demonstrate broad-based involvement and participation of community partners (e.g., government, local residents, business, healthcare, and academia). If the practice is internal to the LHD, it should demonstrate cooperation and participation within the agency (i.e., other LHD staff) and other outside entities, if relevant. An effective implementation strategy includes outlined, actionable steps that are taken to complete the goals and objectives and put the practice into action within the community.
- Evaluation
- Evaluation assesses the value of the practice and the potential worth it has to other LHDs and the populations they serve. It is also effective in assessing the credibility of the practice. Evaluation helps public health practice maintain and improve standards. Two types of evaluation are process and outcome. Process evaluation assesses the effectiveness of the steps taken to achieve the desired practice outcomes.
- Sustainability
- Sustainability is determined by the availability of adequate resources. The practice should be designed so that the stakeholders are invested in its maintenance and to ensure it is sustainable after initial development. NACCHO acknowledges that fiscal challenges may limit the feasibility of a practice’s continuation.
For more information, visit https://www.naccho.org/membership/awards
