Funder: Missouri Foundation for Health
Staff Contact: Martin Schoen
Project Duration: 2011-present

 

The Missouri Foundation for Health established Social Innovation for Missouri (SIM) in 2010 to support communities' efforts to expand physical activity options, encourage healthier food choices, and reduce overall tobacco use. Because tobacco use and obesity are the most common preventable causes of death in Missouri, SIM's goal is to reduce their effects in the state and improve the health of Missourians by encouraging community-wide change through organizations, nonprofits, and local governments. By integrating obesity prevention and tobacco control efforts, communities will maximize limited financial and human resources to address these critical health needs in Missouri.

 

In order to inspire social change, SIM uses the Community Health Improvement (CHI) model that emphasizes collaboration to create fully linked partnerships. As a part of the CHI model, grantees are encouraged to collaborate across economic sectors to in order to engage all stakeholders in a community around tobacco cessation and obesity prevention.

 

The evaluation team is comprised of faculty and staff from CPHSS and outside consultants as necessary. A comprehensive evaluation plan has been developed to examine both process and outcome measures for the SIM grant. As the external evaluator of SIM, the center assesses the effect of foundation-supported tobacco control and obesity prevention programs in Missouri. As a part of the evaluation, CPHSS will be conducting partnership evaluations and constructing social network maps to describe the collaborative environment of SIM grantees.

 

CPHSS also provides individualized, ongoing assistance to all MFH grantees throughout the Initiative. The technical assistance team is available to assist grantees with any evaluation-related question. This includes reviewing evaluation plans and surveys, assisting with data management and analysis, providing guidance on reports and communicating data, and identifying relevant evaluation tools and resources.