About Turning Point
Transforming public health for the new
century
What is the Turning Point Initiative?
Turning Point is a collaborative effort between state and local public health agencies, national public health organizations, and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. At the heart of Turning Point are efforts to transform public health so that it achieves the goals of preventing disease and injury, protecting the public from threats to health, and promoting healthy behaviors.
Individuals and organizations from
different sectors in many communities and states have come
together through Turning Point to create a public health system
that works smarter and better. At the national level, Turning
Point collaborates with other public health organizations to
help realize the Institute of Medicine's vision of a
strong and effective public health system.
The Turning Point National Excellence Collaboratives were created in response to requests from public health professionals for big-picture change in five key areas: collaborative leadership, social marketing, information technology, performance management, and public health law modernization.
How is Turning Point improving public
health?
Turning Point has developed specific
models for a more effective and responsive public health
system. Through 21 state partnerships of state and local public
health and community-based agencies and through five national
collaboratives we are:
• Improving the accountability of
public health efforts
• Distributing a model law developed to provide an example for updating public health statutes
• Increasing the effectiveness of
public health information technology
• Motivating changes in behaviors to
promote good health outcomes
• Promoting skills and competencies
of public health practitioners and leaders
What can Turning Point help you do?
• Provide tools and resources to make the vital work you do every day easier and more successful
• Identify the most important health
needs of residents in states and communities nationwide
• Create effective and accountable
structures to deliver public health services to states and
communities
• Develop population data that
supports decision-making about public health priorities
• Generate strategies to improve the
health status of individuals, families, and communities
• Target the best ways of
eliminating health disparities among and within populations
• Provide evidence of effective
partnerships that have transformed public health systems
Support
The Turning Point Initiative is funded by
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Partner Organizations
Strong partnerships are a key to the widespread success of Turning Point. In addition to the more than twenty states that have participated actively, numerous national public health organizations have been engaged as partners, lending expertise, connecting to their memberships, working with Turning Point to develop products, and more. Although it is impossible to name and thank all the Turning Point partners, here are links to several of our most vital partners.
Collaborative leadership embraces a
process in which people with different views and perspectives
come together, set aside narrow self-interests, and discuss
issues openly and supportively in an attempt to find ways of
helping each other solve a larger problem or achieve broader
goals. It is an evidence-based strategy that has proven
particularly effective in public health planning that involves
multiple stakeholders who share a common interest.
The goal of the Turning Point Leadership Development National Excellence Collaborative was to increase collaborative leadership capacity at all levels of public health practice.
Turning Point Leadership Development National Excellence Collaborative was a partnership of local, state, and national public health organizations. Members included representatives from Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
Visit the Collaborative Leadership Web
site for information, resources, and links of interest:
www.collaborativeleadership.org
www.collaborativeleadership.org
Social marketing is the use of marketing
principles to influence human behavior and improve health or
benefit society. Social marketing is widely used to improve
community health, such as innovative campaigns to reduce teen
tobacco use.
The mission of the Social Marketing National Excellence Collaborative was to provide national leadership to achieve integration of social marketing as a routine part of public health practice at all levels. The goals of the group included building social marketing skills; providing tools to increase social marketing effectiveness; advocating for increased institutional support for social marketing; and increasing resources for applying social marketing to public health interventions.
The Social Marketing National Excellence Collaborative was a partnership of local, state, and national public health organizations. Members included representatives from New York, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, Maine, Virginia, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Association of City and County Health Officials, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Health Resources and Services Administration.
Visit the Turning Point Web site for
information, resources, and links of interest:
www.turningpointprogram.org
www.turningpointprogram.org
The mission of the Information Technology National Excellence Collaborative was to assess, evaluate, and recommend to national policy makers innovative ways to improve the nation's public health infrastructure by utilizing information technology to effectively collect, analyze, and disseminate information. The group was dedicated to serving the public health community and working toward better health through information.
The Information Technology National Excellence Collaborative was a partnership of local, state, and national public health organizations. Members included representatives from Kansas, Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Resources and Services Administration, North Dakota National Association of Health Data Organizations, National Health Information Infrastructure Advisors, and the New Hampshire Health Department.
Visit the Information Technology Web site
to access the online catalog, and for other resources, and
links of interest: www.infotechnet.org
Performance management is the practice of
actively using performance data to improve the public’s
health. This practice involves strategic use of performance
measures and standards to establish performance targets and
goals, to prioritize and allocate resources, to inform managers
about needed adjustments or changes in policy or program
directions to meet goals, to frame reports on the success in
meeting performance goals, and to improve the quality of public
health practice.
The Turning Point Performance Management National Excellence Collaborative was a partnership of local, state, and national public health organizations. Members included representatives from Alaska, Illinois, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, and West Virginia, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Association of State and Territorial Local Health Liaison Officials.
Visit the Performance Management Portal
section of the Public Health Foundation Web site for
information, resources, and links of interest: www.phf.org/infrastructure/phfpage.php?page_id=
52&pp_id=52
The primary purpose of the Turning Point Statute Modernization National Excellence Collaborative was to transform and strengthen the legal framework for the public health system by development of a model public health law. The model state public health infrastructure law defines governments' duties and authorities for protecting and promoting the public's health, and is available for state legislatures' consideration.
The Turning Point Public Health Statute Modernization National Excellence Collaborative was a partnership of local, state, and national public health organizations. Members included representatives from Alaska, Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon, Wisconsin, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, the National Association of City and County Health Officials, the National Association of Local Boards of Health, the American Public Health Association, the National Governor's Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Resources and Services Administration.
For more information, resources, and
links of interest visit:
For more information about Turning Point:
Please note: The Turning Point Program Office closed in April 2006. CDs are unavailable for ordering and the Program Office can no longer be contacted.
Please note: The Turning Point Program Office closed in April 2006. CDs are unavailable for ordering and the Program Office can no longer be contacted.
