Why Bus Lines Aren’t Run by Health Departments
Please welcome guest blogger Erika Guenther, Public Health Planner with the Aitkin-Itasca-Koochiching Community Health Board.
Community partnership development is a cornerstone of strong public health infrastructure. But why is it essential to embed community engagement into our planning – not just as a checkbox, but as a guiding principle? As public health practitioners, we understand that many drivers of health are beyond the traditional scope of our departments. I recently heard someone say, “I can’t create a bus system run by the health department!” It was a lighthearted comment – but it captured a serious truth: the challenges we face are too complex for any one agency to solve alone. By centering communities most impacted by health inequities and building partnerships across public, private, and nonprofit sectors, we can design interventions that are effective, equitable, and publicly supported.
We have tools to help us think about how we build partnerships with community. The Spectrum of Community Engagement to Ownership, developed by Rosa González of Facilitating Power, is one option that illustrates different levels of community involvement. While this isn’t the only framework for public participation, it’s the first I’ve seen that includes “Ignore” as a stage. Including “Ignore” serves as a powerful reminder of how communities can be systematically excluded from decision-making that impacts them. When this happens, we risk reinforcing the inequities we aim to address.
The Spectrum of Community Engagement to Ownership
The CDC Foundation has highlighted this framework as a transformative roadmap for building authentic relationships. Their report, co-created with local health departments and community-based organizations, emphasizes the most important measure of success is to carry a growth mindset. It’s a given that there will be imperfection and discomfort in partnership-building; keep the focus on moving forward and sharing power where communities agree there is need.
Community partnership development isn’t just a strategy – it’s a long-term commitment to shared leadership, community-driven solutions, and reimagining public health as a shared endeavor rooted in trust, humility, and justice. By valuing lived experience and community expertise alongside our public health expertise, we can create enduring health equity and empower communities to shape their own healthier futures.
I want to hear your thoughts! Here’s a few questions, but please sound off in the comments on how community partnership development resonates with your work.
How are you currently engaging community members in shaping public health priorities and strategies?
How do you see using a tool like The Spectrum of Community Engagement to Ownership in your public health practice?
What steps have you taken to build trust and share power with community-based organizations?
What support or resources would help you strengthen your community partnership development efforts?