The various systems within communities — including medical care, public health, housing, education, transportation, justice, and human services — directly influence the health and well-being of community members. Yet often, these systems’ policies and practices have excluded, marginalized, and disadvantaged some communities of people — especially people of color — creating long-standing inequities in health and well-being. Cross-system initiatives play an important role in countering these impacts, but they must invest in, work with, and be accountable to the communities they serve in order to truly promote equitable health outcomes. One way to ensure alignment and accountability is through shared measurement: using a common set of measurable goals that reflect shared priorities across systems and with community members.

In January 2021, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in partnership with Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH), developed five Guiding Principles for systems and the communities those systems serve to use shared measurement to ensure that decisions, policies, and practices address the needs and priorities of the communities served. In this webinar, we heard from Tamika Cowans of AIR and Al Richmond of CCPH on how they developed their shared measurement principles through collaboration with partners and participants. Tamika and Al shared how they established trust and accountability by engaging a diverse group of community champions as experts on their Delphi panel, connected with the community to learn about their priorities, and grounded the development of the principles in those priorities.

Presenters

• Tamika Cowans, MPP, PMP, Senior Researcher, American Institutes for Research
• Al Richmond, MSW, Executive Director, Community-Campus Partnership for Health

Additional resources

• American Institutes for Research wants to hear from you. Please use this feedback form to share your reactions to or stories about using the principles, and to tell them what additional investments, resources, or support you will need to integrate the principles into your work.
• Shared measurement principles in English and Spanish
• Companion guide