The Vermont Community Health Equity Partnership

The VT CHEP believes that true change begins at the local level.

The VT CHEP is a statewide initiative with a regional approach.  The focus is to engage, empower, and support local communities. We partner with local community teams to be sure the work is informed by community voices and to fund local initiatives that address health inequities of those most negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

After almost 2 years, the VT Community Health Equity Partnership (VT CHEP) grant came to an end on November 30, 2023. We want to thank the multitude of partners across Vermont we had the pleasure of working with! Thank you to all statewide community organizations and individuals who have participated in this new approach to foster capacity building while improving relationships and improving health equity across Vermont. 

Read the VT CHEP Final Report
Slideshow PDF
Backbone Partners
Community Projects

VT CHEP Programs

The VT CHEP has three main components:

  • Local learning collaboratives
  • Backbone organizations and Integrator staff
  • Funding of local community projects

Goals

  • Create and support opportunities for a diverse range of partners, through community-led approaches, to collaborate in building healthier, more resilient communities.
  • Provide opportunities for training to the statewide learning collaborative.
  • Provide individual and group coaching supports to local collaboratives.
  • Support strategies to promote healthy communities and address health disparities.

Local Sustainability

  • Promoting community-led approaches to inform local capacity-building
  • Building relationships
  • Instigating change
  • Redefining power
  • Learning, sharing, and building skills
  • Building resiliency
  • Increasing infrastructure
  • Reducing health disparities
  • Increasing likelihood of preventing communicable disease transmission

Improving Health Equity Across the State

“The network the VT CHEP has built and the impact of their work over just one short year has been instrumental to uplifting health equity work in every town and village in our state.”

— Executive Director, Social Tinkering, Rutland

“The VT CHEP’s full commitment and support have not only strengthened our programs it has shown what is possible in a partnership, together building a foundation based on respect and trust to bridge history, to a vibrant future.”

— Community Partner, St. Johnsbury and Newport VDH Districts

“The VT CHEP project has been one visible and tangible project to begin to incubate grassroots solutions to inequity that honors the ideas of those most burdened by unjust barriers to better health.”

— Community Partner, White River Junction

Community Partnership Framework

The VT CHEP Community Partnership Framework is designed to improve health equity at the community level. Health Equity work begins with the Integrator staff collaborating with their local collaborative, in partnership with their Vermont Department of Health, Local Health Office, District Director. Support is provided by the Backbone organization and the Vermont Public Health Institute. Funding is from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support, under OT21-2103, and administered through the Vermont Department of Health.

VT CHEP grant structure visual.

Acknowledgement of funding source:

The VT Community Health Equity Partnership was supported by funds made available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support, under OT21-2103.

Disclaimer:

The content of this website, are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of or endorsement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.