The Two Georgias Initiative

The Two Georgias Initiative is Healthcare Georgia Foundation's multi-year, place-based grantmaking program designed to expand access to quality healthcare and achieve greater health equity among rural Georgians.

Whether it's an aging population, a hospital closure, or the departure of a community's only family doctor or dentist, as rural Georgians experience healthcare challenges, local ideas and new partnerships can demonstrate what is possible when communities come together to address these critical issues.

In July 2017, the Foundation funded a total of $770,000 to the following 11 lead organizations which represent The Two Georgias Initiative Phase I Community Health Partnerships:

As part of this award, each Community Health Partnership was to identify a local evaluator to assist with the Partnership's development of a Community Health Improvement Plan, which includes an evaluation plan and logic model. The local evaluator is to be a liaison between the Partnership and Emory Prevention Research Center, the Initiative evaluation team.

For more information, please visit the Foundation's Two Georgias Initiative webpage.

Evaluation Support

The ERC provided pre-award evaluation technical assistance as nonprofit organizations were applying for The Two Georgias Initiative. Applicants were able to ask questions around the outcomes and evaluation portion of the application, the case statement, and proposed outcomes. The ERC will continue to support the Community Health Partnerships throughout the life of the Initiative.

In April 2017, the Foundation awarded Emory Prevention Research Center, led by Dr. Michelle Kegler, Director, to design and implement the evaluation of the Initiative. Emory is working to support the Community Health Partnerships in developing their site-specific evaluation, and finding common indicators across all sites for the Initiative-level cross-site evaluation.

As the Community Health Partnerships are embarking upon their journey to health equity in this Initiative, Emory developed a list of health equity indicators that could be applied to multiple elements in the Partnerships' Community Health Improvement Plan. The list identifies potential categories of health equity, with specific indicators and their data source provided. It is available to download here.

Aligning with the ERC's evaluation framework, Emory is using the CDC's Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health to conduct the evaluation of the Initiative. In addition, Emory developed an evaluation plan template following this framework and is coaching the Community Health Partnerships and local evaluators on how to best use it. To download the evaluation plan template developed by Emory, click here.

In addition to coaching the Community Health Partnerships on the evaluation plan template, Emory is working with each Partnership on developing a logic model. In January 2018, an in-person logic model training will further help the Partnerships think through the elements of their Community Health Improvement Plan. To download the logic model template developed by Emory, click here.

Data Support

In September 2016, the Foundation awarded Georgia Tech Health Analytics Group, led by Dr. Nicoleta Serban, Associate Professor, to develop and deploy a comprehensive measurement approach for improving community health. The team first identified datasets on healthcare access, economic burden of healthcare, prevalence of chronic conditions, and the socioeconomic environment. An interactive mapping tool, the Health(care) Data Portal, was created to help Community Health Partnerships identify both the need and the opportunity within their communities. A one-pager on how to use the Health(care) Data Portal can be downloaded here.

Health Analytics Group provides training and support to the Partnerships as they develop their Community Health Improvement Plans, which includes identifying community assessment measures. In addition, Health Analytics Groups can support each Partnerships' needs to stratify the data by demographic characteristics in order to understand the community deeper and with a health equity lens.

For more information on the technical assistance provided to The Two Georgias Initiative grantees, please contact Samantha Bourque Tucker, Evaluation Manager, at 404.653.0990 or email stucker@healthcaregeorgia.org.