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McHenry County Board of Health narrows community health priorities to behavioral health, food insecurity and preventive services
Summary
After a stakeholder voting process, the county’s community health assessment named behavioral health, food insecurity and preventive health services as draft priorities; the department will follow the MAPP process to turn those priorities into a community health improvement plan.
The McHenry County Board of Health heard that stakeholders have selected three draft priorities for the county’s next five-year community health plan: behavioral health, food insecurity and preventative health services, Director Hack said.
“Behavioral health, food insecurity, and preventative health services,” Director Hack told the board, summarizing the outcomes of the stakeholder voting process that followed the county’s community health assessment. Hack said the department will follow the full MAPP (Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships) process to develop a community health improvement plan with broad stakeholder input.
The priorities emerged from a convened group charged with reviewing assessment data, applying a list of criteria and voting to identify the most pressing areas for county action. Hack said the next steps include mapping strategies, identifying partners and determining which specific interventions will fall under the broad heading of “preventative health services.”
Board members discussed including youth voice in later stages of plan development and using focus groups tied to existing committees and school partnerships to gather more targeted input. Hack and staff said they will try to structure involvement so community partners and residents contribute to strategy development and implementation roles.
Why it matters: the priorities will guide county public-health programming and partnerships for the coming five years and shape how limited grant and county resources are targeted. Hack said the process is intended to produce a shared plan so multiple agencies and community organizations can coordinate work and sustain momentum after ARPA-era funding ends.
What happens next: Department staff will continue the MAPP process, produce an implementation plan with assigned roles and timelines, and bring drafts back to the board and to public meetings for additional feedback before finalizing the community health improvement plan.
