MAPP

Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships:

A Strategic Approach to Community Health Improvement

Click any of the the MAPP links in the left column to access MAPP assessment information

Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) is a strategic approach to community health improvement. This tool helps communities improve health and quality of life through community-wide strategic planning. Using MAPP, communities seek to achieve optimal health identifying and using their resources wisely, taking into account their unique circumstances and needs, and forming effective partnerships for strategic action.

The MAPP tool was developed by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) in cooperation with the Public Health Practice Program Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A work group comprised of local health officials, CDC representative, community representatives, and academicians developed MAPP between 1997 and 2000.

The Three Rivers Health District began planning for MAPP implementation in early 2008. MAPP activities involved many community partners, and was focused on two geographic areas: 1) Essex County and the Northern Neck (Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond and Westmoreland Counties) and 2) the Middle Peninsula counties of Gloucester, King & Queen, King William, Mathews and Middlesex. The following section describes the six phases of MAPP:

1. Organize for Success: The first phase of MAPP involves two critical and interrelated activities: organizing the planning process and developing the planning partnership. The purpose of this phase is to structure a planning process that builds commitment, engages participants as active partners, uses participants’ time well, and results in a plan that can be realistically implemented.

2. Visioning: The second phase of MAPP – Visioning - guides the community through a collaborative and creative process that leads to a shared community vision and common values. Vision and values statements provide focus, purpose, and direction to the MAPP process so that participants collectively achieve a shared vision for the future. A shared community vision provides an overarching goal for the community – a statement of what the ideal future looks like. Values are the fundamental principles and beliefs that guide a community driven planning process. Because visioning is done at the beginning of the MAPP process, it offers a useful mechanism for convening the community and building enthusiasm for the process, setting the stage for planning, and providing a common framework throughout subsequent phases.

3. Assessments: While each of the assessments alone will yield important information for improving community health, the value of the four MAPP Assessments is multiplied by considering the findings of each individual assessment together. Disregarding any of the four assessments will leave participants with an incomplete understanding of the factors that affect the local public health system and ultimately, the health of the community.

The four MAPP Assessments

• Community Themes and StrengthsAssessment provides a deep understanding of the issues residents feel are important by answering the questions, “What is important to our community?” “How is quality of life perceived in our community?” and “What assets do we have that can be used to improve community health?”

• Local Public Health System Assessment (LPHSA) focuses on all of the organizations and entities that contribute to the public’s health. The LPHSA answers the questions, “What are the components, activities, competencies, and capacities of our local public health system?” and “How are the Essential Services being provided to our community?”

• Community Health Status Assessment identifies priority community health and quality of life issues. Questions answered include “How healthy are our residents?” and “What does the health status of our community look like?”

• Forces of Change Assessment focuses on identifying forces such as legislation, technology, and other impending changes that affect the context in which the community and its public health system operate. This answers the questions, “What is occurring or might occur that affects the health of our community or the local public health system?” and “What specific threats or opportunities are generated by these occurrences?

4. Strategic Issues: During this phase of the MAPP process, participants develop an ordered list of the most important issues facing the community. Strategic issues are identified by exploring the convergence of the results of the four MAPP Assessments and determining how those issues affect the achievement of the shared vision.

5. Goals/Strategies: During the Formulate Goals and Strategies phase of the MAPP Process, participants take the strategic issues identified in the previous phase and formulate goal statements related to those issues. They, then, identify broad strategies for addressing issues and achieving goals related to the community’s vision. The result is the development and adoption of an interrelated set of strategy statements.

6. Action Cycle: The Action Cycle links three activities – Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation. Each of these activities builds upon the others in a continuous and interactive manner. While the Action Cycle is the final phase of MAPP, it is by no means the “end” of the process. During this phase, the efforts of the previous phases begin to produce results, as the local public health system develops and implements an action plan for addressing priority goals and objectives.