Healthy Communities
In order to address health concerns on a community level, residents and organizations have been coming together to form local Community Health Coalitions. These coalitions can be a means of conserving and utilizing resources more efficiently, and a powerful vehicle for impacting health through policy, systems, and environmental changes.
Purdue Extension is a partner in local health coalitions. For over 15 years, through the work of the Purdue Extension Coalition Engagement Team, Extension Educators, and others have gained skills and support to elevate the work with their local coalitions.
Resources
Building a Coalition: Investing in Health - Learn more about how to build a coalition
Further resources can be found through Coalition Trip, a collaborative website hosted by our partners at the Indiana CTSI Community Health Partnerships.
Community Health Partnerships (CHeP) of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) aims to link the experience and skills of community leaders, health professionals, and university researchers to improve the health of Indiana citizens. Indiana University, Purdue University, and the University of Notre Dame along with other universities across the state are collaborating to engage Indiana communities and citizens as partners in the research process to achieve the goal of a healthier state. With the advice and participation of community leaders, CHeP seeks to provide better ways to conduct and disseminate research about health to Indiana’s communities and citizens. Purdue Extension is a crucial partner in this statewide work which helps to expand the reach of CHeP to be statewide in scope.
- An initiative named Connections in Health began in 2018 and is in strong partnership with Purdue Extension. In 2025, Connections IN Health scaled back and is now part of CHeP. An umbrella coalition meets quarterly and workgroups from the previous coalitions meet every other month. Purdue Extension professionals have been key members of subcommittees and initiatives of each of these coalitions.
- Purdue Extension professionals in several counties have worked closely with CINH to listen to community health needs and build implementation plans. The recent focus is now on Public Health Areas 1 and 7 where Purdue Extension professionals continue to play a key role in this community work.
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