Community Consortia

Our Community Consortia (formerly known as the Community Action Network or CAN) seeks to bring together parents, community members, organizations, and other stakeholders to find solutions to prevent infant deaths, identify root causes of infant deaths, and advise on the growth of family-centered initiatives. In the past, the Foundation’s Healthy Start project convened stakeholders at the county level. This re-launching of the program focuses on addressing birth disparities specifically in the City of Chester, which currently has the highest infant mortality rate of any city in the state of Pennsylvania.

Core Objectives of the Convening Efforts

• Convene diverse, multi-sector state, local, and community level partners, including Healthy Start participants and other community members, that will: advise and inform strategies for providing direct and enabling services to Healthy Start participants.
• Develop cross-sector partnerships to ensure access for Healthy Start participants to coordinate: comprehensive maternal, child, and family medical care; health and parenting education; and community-based resources that address social determinants of health within the project area.
• Participate in Communities of Practice with other Healthy Start projects to develop and implement a strategic plan for the community that focuses on at least one social determinant of health.
• Increase receipt of case management and care coordination to facilitate access to medical care and community-based resources.
• Increase uptake of healthy behaviors before, during, and after pregnancy.
• Increase use of safe infant care practices.

If you are interested in joining this working group, please contact Karen Peterson at kpeterson@delcofoundation.org.