Toolkits and templates

The American Hospital Association’s Community Health Assessment Toolkit 

• This toolkit provides a nine-step guide for hospitals and health systems to collaborate with their communities and strategic partners to conduct a community health assessment (CHA) and meet community health needs assessment (CHNA) requirements. 

Cardiff Model Toolkit: Community Guidance for Violence Prevention 

• The Cardiff Violence Prevention Model provides a way for communities to gain a clearer picture about where violence is occurring by combining and mapping both hospital and police data on violence. But more than just an approach to map and understand violence, the Cardiff Model provides a straightforward framework for hospitals, law enforcement agencies, public health agencies, community groups, and others interested in violence prevention to work together and develop collaborative violence prevention strategies.

Health People 2030 and MAPP 2.0

• The public health community can prepare to address health inequities by using tools, resources, and processes such as Healthy People and Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP). Healthy People 2030 is the current Healthy People initiative from the HHS Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. It brings a renewed focus on the nation’s health and wellbeing through “upstream” actions that address the social determinants of health (SDOH). MAPP 2.0 is the updated version of MAPP from the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). This community driven strategic planning process for community health improvement (CHI) spurs collective action to improve population health and equity. To help address SDOH and advance health equity, NACCHO partnered with the HHS Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion to develop this guide on using Healthy People 2030 objectives and targets at the local level in CHI. This guide provides a structure for strategic alignment of MAPP and Healthy People 2030 to assist local health departments and their communities to shift CHI upstream.

Public Health Modernization: Strengthening Collaboration between Public Health and the Health Care System

• A new toolkit released by the National Academy for State Health Policy takes lessons learned from the pandemic and synthesizes them into a comprehensive framework for modernizing public health.
• The toolkit provides a menu of strategies and innovative practices for aligning public health and broader health care system efforts – starting with strategies for high-burden, high-cost health conditions that are priorities for both sectors.

The Public Health & Information Sharing (PH&IS) Toolkit 

• The Public Health & Information Sharing (PH&IS) Toolkit addresses key concepts regarding public health agencies' authority to collect, use, and share information to prepare and respond to a public health emergency. This toolkit addresses information sharing issues in general and when information sharing involves the workplace or law enforcement. The toolkit's component documents are designed to assist in education, training, and planning activities to prepare for emergencies, as well as to serve as a quick reference resource during an emergency response to an event.  

The Data Modernization Planning Toolkit 

• The Data Modernization Planning Toolkit supports Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases recipients in planning data modernization ventures at health departments. It is not an implementation plan, as each jurisdiction’s data modernization projects will differ. Instead, it is a guide to build leadership and partner buy-in for data modernization work and to assist health departments in developing plans that prioritize data modernization activities.

Surveillance Resource Center Tools and Toolkits

• This resource includes links to tools and templates developed by specific surveillance programs that may be adapted for use by other programs. This resource includes data sharing agreements, evaluation templates, survey questionnaires, slide sets, software, forms, and toolkits.

Grants Management Office Structure Optimization Toolkit

• The Grants Management Office (GMO) Structure Optimization Toolkit was collaboratively developed to assist Health Departments in establishing and maintaining a more centralized GMO to optimize the utilization of federal funding. The purpose of this toolkit is to comprehensively assess the department's current federal grant workload, grant management office staffing requirements, and potential opportunities. Doing so enables efficient allocation of efforts and support among funded programs.
• The primary objective is to centralize critical functions through a comprehensive grants management system led by specialized and well-trained personnel who maintain close communication with program staff. The toolkit also aims to define the transition costs associated with adopting this structure and appropriately distribute the expenses across multiple programs.

The Network for Public Health Law’s Micro-Toolkit: Equity Assessment Framework for Public Health Laws and Policies

• A simple, accessible framework to guide users through six steps to assess potential equity implications for a new or existing policy and to help users identify opportunities for improvement and for continued assessment. The micro-toolkit is intended for policymakers and others who lead, shape, or influence policy decisions, without the need for in-depth training or additional resources.

Health Equity Resource Toolkit for State Practitioners Addressing Obesity Disparities

• This document was created to provide examples of strategies and surveillance data which can be used to inform obesity prevention initiatives.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention I How to Develop Products for Adults with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities and Extreme Low Literacy 

• CDC recently launched a new tool for jurisdictions on How to Develop Products for Adults with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities and Extreme Low Literacy (IDD/ELL). Creators of the tool reviewed research conducted with adults with IDD/ELL and did audience testing with this group and their caregivers. The tool includes a user guide, a score sheet with 27 yes/no questions about materials being developed, and instructions on calculating and interpreting the material’s score. 

Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit, 2nd Edition

• The AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit, 2nd edition, can help primary care practices reduce the complexity of health care, increase patient understanding of health information, and enhance support for patients of all health literacy levels.

Strategic Planning 

• The Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) defines strategic planning as "a disciplined process aimed at producing fundamental decisions and actions that will shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does what it does. The process of assessing a changing environment to create a vision of the future; determining how the organization fits into the anticipated environment, based on its mission, strengths, and weaknesses; then setting in motion a plan of action to position the organization," with the strategic plan focusing on a range of agency level organizational goals, strategies and objectives, including new initiatives.

• NACCHO's Performance Improvement team supports the strategic planning capacity of local health departments by providing tailored technical assistance; a wide range of tools, trainings, and other resources, including publications; and opportunities for peer networking and learning.

Using Healthy People 2030 to Develop Multi Sector Partnerships 

• This new toolkit developed by NACCHO, with support from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, focuses on how multisector partnerships can use Healthy People 2030 objectives to address vital issues in communities. Working across and engaging stakeholders across the spectrum of expertise—including public health, healthcare, education, housing, economic development, and transit—multi-sector partnerships seek to pool resources, skills, and knowledge to work together more effectively to address critical problems.  The toolkit will:  
• Define multisector partnerships (MSPs), and consider the rationale for and evidence base to support their use
• Guide MSPs on using Healthy People 2030 objectives and LHIs to help identify local needs and priority populations
• Underscore priority areas of Healthy People 2030 that guide selection of potential partners from non-health sectors

• Offer direction on using federal Healthy People 2030 objective data as a benchmark for tracking local measure

Adverse Childhood Experiences Prevention Policy Toolkit

• Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include abuse (emotional, physical, and sexual), household challenges (violence in the home, substance use, mental illness, parental separation or divorce, and incarcerated household member), and neglect (emotional and physical) experienced before age 18.

Healthy Heart, Healthy Brain

• ASTHO, with support from the CDC Alzheimer’s Disease and Healthy Aging Program, partnered with the International Association for Indigenous Aging (IA²) to produce a series of health communication materials to improve quality, availability, and accessibility of public health resources to address the connection between brain health and heart health. All materials are informed by the Healthy Brain Initiative State and Local Public Health Partnerships to Address Dementia, The 2018-2023 Road Map, and the Road Map for Indian County.

Act for Public Health: Network for Public Health Law

• The backlash in response to public health measures taken during the pandemic has resulted in many states passing laws restricting the ability of public health to take action to protect the health of their communities. However, there are many states that have taken innovative actions that strengthen public health authority and provide mechanisms that support a strong public health infrastructure.
• This new report from the Network for Public Health Law, produced as part of Act for Public Health, examines laws and policies being enacted across the U.S. in several key areas that serve as a model for best practices moving forward, including:
  • Governance
  • Funding
  • Health equity
  • Infrastructure
  • Workforce
  • Public health interventions

Centro de Recursos de Salud Mental en Español

• The New Mental Health Resources Hub in Spanish provides a comprehensive collection of mental health materials to assist individuals, families, and others in accessing valuable mental health resources for the Spanish-speaking community.

National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC) I Biocontainment Unit Training Strategies Toolkit

• The  Biocontainment Unit (BCU) Training Strategies Toolkit, developed by NETEC’s BCU Leadership Workgroup with members from the nation’s Regional Emerging Special Pathogens Treatment Centers (RESPTCs) , is a resource for health care facilities at every level of special pathogens care. This toolkit includes strategies for staff recruitment, training, retention, and sustainment of staff who may be working in special pathogen isolation areas. All facilities, regardless of the type, should incorporate preparedness strategies into everyday patient care. Each chapter outlines the differentiated level of care required within each tier of the regional approach. The document is meant to serve programs as a guide and a tool.