This report assesses the national bridging landscape of partnerships between health departments and community power-building organizations (CPBOs). HIP undertook this landscape assessment in an effort to identify and map known bridging partnerships, compile information about them, identify trends and gaps, and share some recommendations for the field. We identify and map 71 unique partnerships through a combination of surveys, prior reports and evaluations, and current information from HIP’s Bridging work including Power-building Partnerships for Health (PPH). 

We are living through complex and difficult times marked by rapid change and overlapping crises – the “troubled waters” over which these partnerships are building bridges. Many of the partnerships in this landscape have weathered the storms of past crises. In fact, many of the bridges they built together were created in response to crisis.

Despite the challenges, these partnerships are developing pathways towards a more just future. They provide a model of how public health and community power building organizations can work together. By mapping the landscape, this report offers a resource to those seeking to chart their way to more liberatory futures using transformative public health approaches.

Key Findings

• There are many areas of alignment and opportunities for bridging partnerships to advance shared goals. Bridging partnerships address root causes through a wide variety of issues including racial justice, environmental justice, housing justice, immigration justice, and labor justice/workers rights.
• Within public health there is growing interest but lack of clarity about power-building. Education is needed to distinguish community power-building from community engagement and how CPBOs are unique from other community organizations.
• The landscape has a limited but growing number of partnerships – it is a compelling approach for health departments seeking deeper ways of working with communities. It will take sustained investment in both governmental public health and social movement infrastructure to continue growing this nascent practice.
• The bridging landscape is geographically uneven with gap areas. There is significant room for growth through long-term investment in community power-building and co-governance.
• Engaging in bridging partnerships builds muscle for subsequent partnerships, as evidenced by locations with clusters of numerous partnerships. Capacity is built over time that helps enable and cultivate new partnerships, especially in areas with robust social movement activity.
• COVID-19 had a dramatic impact that was not uniformly experienced. The pandemic disrupted some existing partnerships and increased staff turnover, but also generated many new partnerships.
• Sustainability is a challenge for both health departments and CPBOs. Trusting relationships and funding help support successful partnerships.

Policy Recommendations

Develop the practice of inside-outside strategy around root causes of public health issues. Emphasize growth and learning to develop this promising practice within public health. Use HIP’s Five Dimensions guide and toolkit to nourish relationships, deepen leadership, build capacity, navigate political landscapes, and hone analysis.

Increase breadth and depth of partnerships in the landscape. Center relationships; it can be time and resource intensive but is what makes this work successful. Deepen existing partnerships with new connections and broader networks, and focus new relationships and outreach to fill in identified gap areas.

‍Amidst crisis, seek new opportunities for collaboration and sustainability.  Bridging partnerships can be forged in crisis and are much needed for navigating crisis. Bring in additional people so that partnerships are not dependent on any single person in a given role. Encourage general operating funds to grow movement infrastructure and facilitate new connections with public health.