Innovation

Innovation serves to refine or incubate emerging programs such as the Office of Violence Prevention and Community Capacity Building. It provides a supportive, resourced space to pilot and test programs, services, and policy efforts essential to Alameda County Health, Public Health Department’s (ACPHD’s) efforts to remain on the cutting edge of evidence-based best practices. QIA oversees department-level innovation projects. Here is a list of QIA’s current innovation projects:

Office of Violence Prevention:

Recognizing violence as a public health issue—impacting the individuals and families at the center of an incident and also presenting hardships for the surrounding neighborhoods and communities subjected to the presence of violence—ACPHD has established an Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) in 2023 to investigate, understand, and address violence that touches the lives of Alameda County residents. The office supports community-based interventions that address violence and trauma, serve as a convener to gather stakeholders working collaboratively on violence interventions, and expand Alameda County Health’s capacity to reduce the impacts of violence. The program is a cornerstone of ACPHD’s Community Health Improvement Plan priority to promote peaceful families and communities. Click here to learn more about OVP.

Health Program Planning:

The leading causes of death in Alameda County—heart disease, cancer, and other chronic illnesses—demand a population-level approach to garner the most impact. ACPHD programs must continuously innovate, requiring ongoing technical assistance and professional skills development opportunities to consistently integrate population-level approaches into their work. The Health Program Planner performs sophisticated policy analysis and programmatic activities to advance department-wide population-level approaches to program and service delivery and reinforce the department’s program performance management and quality improvement efforts.

Community Capacity Development:

ACPHD held a listening session in April 2022 to obtain additional procurement input and better understand how the community defines and views capacity development or capacity building. Participants highlighted several themes during the listening session. They told us that funds are needed for core operating costs. Participants urged the County to consider funds disbursement models that are creative, flexible, and responsive to urgent needs. Listening session participants encouraged ACPHD to fund organizations that had not been awarded funding in the past to promote equity and opportunities in underrepresented communities and to support new organizations and small grassroots organizations.

ACPHD supports the local infrastructure of community-based organizations serving underserved and low-income County residents. An RFP was released and $9.4M was released to community-based organizations. QIA oversees the portfolio of 38 awards that support community-based organizations through programs that provide executive coaching, self-directed capacity development, technical assistant consultancies, and core operating support.