Cooking Up Local Strategies Together
By Traci Pole, MPH and Kaylan Celestin, MPH
Working with Local Public Health feels both rich and sweet, like eating dark chocolate with a raspberry swirl. There is a culture that runs deep and pumps throughout the community to drive the recipe for creating impactful MCH programming. Several ingredients are staples to maintaining the consistency, but collaboration is the secret sauce to success.
Over the past few months, the Test Kitchen Team, a team that includes both state and local partners, has been gathering around the table to shape the future of maternal and child health in Colorado. Local Public Health Partners and members of the MCH staff have been in the kitchen crafting a recipe to create a Local Strategy Summit. Like any great meal, the process has been fueled by collaboration, creativity, and the best local ingredients—ideas rooted in community wisdom and lived experience.
The result so far? A kitchen buzzing with energy, full of promising ideas that can be scaled, adapted, and shared across Colorado communities. But the best part is still ahead.
The upcoming Local Strategy Summit will unfold in two parts, with an agenda designed to invite your expertise and collaboration. Together, we’ll co-create a full menu of strategies for the upcoming cycle—strategies that are practical, innovative, and tailored to local needs.
This is your invitation to pull up a chair, roll up your sleeves, and add your voice to the mix. Join us in just a few weeks to see what we’ve been cooking up—and to help us serve a healthy, connected future for children, families, and communities across the state.
Add Your Flavor: Join Us in the Test Kitchen, our partners at Local Public Health Agencies should register by September 22.
With Gratitude,
A member of the Test Kitchen Team
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