Monroe County, Indiana

Would you like to make a positive impact on the health and well-being of community members in Monroe County? If so, please join us as a participant in one of the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) workgroups linked above! 

Is there an organization, commission, or other group that you think should know about and/or attend these workgroup meetings? Check this spreadsheet to see if the group you have in mind is listed. This is a list of agencies who have at least one person on the email list for each of the CHIP workgroups. Introduce a representative from the group to one of the CHIP leadership  team (Amy Meek, Annie Eakin, Rebecca Nunley or Melanie Vehslage) or share a link to this page to start the conversation. Of note, presence on this list does not necessarily indicate active participation in the workgroups.

Thank you so much to all of the wonderful community members who attended the CHIP Kickoff event on July 14^th at the Fountain Square Ballroom.

• Listen to the 30 minute long Zoom recording using the passcode ?a0H3@5V . 
• View the slides from the Kickoff presentation 

This CHIP Kickoff was not a one and done event; it is an ongoing and dynamic process. We hope to encourage connection, leadership opportunities and facilitate actionable change over the next few years through your participation in this collective and collaborative work.

What is a CHIP?

This is the third iteration of Monroe County CHIP workgroups as a collaboration with Monroe County Health Department, IU Health Bloomington and City of Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department. These partners, along with Community Voices for Health in Monroe County (CVHMC), and HealthNet developed the 2021 Community Health Assessment (CHA), the guiding document for the CHIP workgroups.

CHIPs (and associated teams/workgroups) are valuable public health tools because they take information directly from the community (through surveys, intercept interviews, focus groups, and locally, the recent Think Tank) to prioritize areas of health needs and focus attention on making change from the ground up rather than a top-down prescriptive approach.

This year Monroe County residents selected the following categories* as the top community health priority areas for CHIP teams to focus on:

1) Poverty and Navigating Health & Social Services

2) Inequity, Discrimination & Bias

3) Substance Use & Mental Health

What is the CHIP kickoff and why did folks come?

This kickoff event provided an opportunity to:

• Learn about the CHIP process
• Review health priorities identified through the community health assessment
• Be introduced to the top 3 health priorities selected by residents at the Think Tank
• Sign up for a CHIP Team in person!

During the networking time

• CHIP leaders collected emails to establish the first meeting time/date
• Connected with fellow team members
• Began networking (and maybe even brainstorming!)

If you were unable to attend the kickoff meeting in person or via Zoom, you can still participate in the CHIP process on workgroups and/or leadership teams! Please follow this link to sign up for any of the workgroups that you would like to be a part of to ensure that you are included in the decision-making processes.

Listen to a recording of the kickoff presentation  using the passcode ?a0H3@5V .

Documents linked below provide background and context for the next steps in the CHIP process. These were shared in a printed format during the Kickoff and can be downloaded for your convenience.

As a reminder, participants are welcome and encouraged to sign up for any (or all) of the workgroups associated with these priority areas.

If I join a workgroup, what am I responsible for?

• Attending regular meetings as scheduled by individual CHIP teams

What are the expectations of the workgroups?

• Establishing a co-leader from the team to work with MCHD/IUHB/City of Bloomington Parks and Recreation to facilitate/schedule meetings, track progress towards goals and objectives
• Establishing specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART) goals/objectives to drive proposed activities to improve the health and well-being of Monroe County
• Taking collective action and facilitating collaboration between group members to act on the activities outlined from the SMART goals
• Considering recommendations for either new or changes to existing policies that affect health outcomes

As you consider joining a workgroup:

• Which topic areas would you like to participate in?
• Which topic area do you have the greatest expertise and/or passion, either through your lived experience or field of study/work?

We recognize that our list of connection points is limited – if you know of an individual or agency that should be included in communications regarding the CHIP, please share a link to this page or submit the name/agency/public email address to mvehslage@co.monroe.in.us. If there are any questions or concerns regarding signing up for a workgroup, please contact mvehslage@co.monroe.in.us as well. 

*[Of note, Lack of Affordable Housing, Housing Insecurity & Homelessness was also identified as a top priority, but was not selected for the CHIP workgroups. This was due to the existing Housing Security Working group that is part of the Heading Home Plan, a well-funded collaboration between the United Way of Monroe County, Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County, and the South Central Housing Network along with many other community partners. If you would like more information on participating in this project, please visit: https://www.monroeunitedway.org/housing .]

This page was updated on 4/17/2023.