Problem Statement Sherburne County Public Health needs to establish a coalition of key SHIP stakeholders, but it is difficult to engage partners without knowing concrete objectives or the amount of funding that will be available to support the intiative. Aim Establish a new coalition by April 2009 to work on decreasing obesity and tobacco rates for individuals that live, work and play in Sherburne County. Goals Heighten the awareness and possibilities that SHIP will bring to Sherburne County. Recruit 12 members from the sectors of community, health care, schools, and worksite and across the geographic area of Sherburne County to the coalition. Develop the mission, goals and objectives of the coalition and member roles and responsibilities. Measures 1. Present obesity and tobacco data and information about SHIP to five community groups by April 1, 2009. 2. Coalition has at least 12 members by July 1, 2009 and 75% of the members attend the meetings. 3. A written charter is developed and accepted by coalition members and SHIP objectives are in place by July 1, 2009. 

Implement the plan Brainstormed list of potential coalition members and interested partners.  Presented general obesity information and SHIP to the Sherburne County Board of Health officials, business leaders in the City of Elk River and at a United Way community forum. Developed and sent out a request for four partners to commit to participating in the SHIP coalition and to give us letters of support for the grant.  

 Identify factors that impact the formation of CLT With SHIP funding in jeopardy we did not develop or recruit members for the coalition or hold any coalition meeting as quickly as we had originally planned.

Milestones achieved We have over 50 agencies/people on our brainstorm list.  Thirty-seven people were presented information on the obesity trends and were informed of Sherburne County Public Health’s plan for SHIP. Two media articles were also publised in the local weekly newspaper. 

  Standardize the improvement •We did some work to heighten the awareness and possibilities that SHIP will bring to Sherburne County.

•We did not establish a coaltion by April 2009 as planned, but changed our aim statement date to July 2009.

•We were awarded SHIP funding, so in August we developed the mission and charter for the coalition and had our first meeting. 

•We invited fourteen people to the coaltion. Seven people attended the frist meeting. Three people responded that they wanted to be part of the coaltion, but could not make the first meeting. Four people did not respond. 

I learned about several quality improvement tools. I now have my own copy of the Public Health Memory Jogger II on my desk. I need to continue to use the tools myself and introduce them to others.

I was reminded of strategies to maintain coalition vitality. Our first coalition meeting we had a draft charter that was reviewed and asked for feedback and revisions. We also gave the members a simple clear homework assignment to help the coalition stay on the SHIP grant timeline.