Continuous Community Engagement and Local Leadership: Essential Components for Public Health Emergency Preparedness,...

Public health emergencies disproportionately affect marginalized communities across the United States, challenging public health to address local-level factors contributing to persistent differences in community health outcomes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) capability standards for public health preparedness recommend strengthening community partnerships to better understand and address these factors, including engagement of trusted community spokespersons. Even with growing governmental public health interest in community engagement, more examples are needed for deeper engagement across the public health emergency spectrum.

Using 2 US-based case studies, we explore how to deeply engage communities throughout the preparedness-response-recovery continuum to help mitigate disproportionate outcomes of public health emergencies.

Community-led groups in Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan and Helena, Arkansas identified priority public health challenges and advised on how to address them. In Detroit, Wayne State University's Hub for Evaluation and Learning set up a Community Steering Council that identified challenges in housing and mental health as key indicators of poor public health. In Helena, the Healthy Community Initiative, through its Community Action Board, identified and addressed a severe water crisis with input from community health workers. Both communities set up mechanisms for community members to share their concerns and help public health address these issues as part of their prevention strategies.

Both communities reported improved capacity to identify and respond to public health crises through engagement with local leaders and creation of community-led groups for consistent involvement before, during, and after public health events.

Local leadership groups are uniquely positioned to maintain relationships with communities at higher risk for negative public health outcomes. Such groups can draw upon community knowledge and assets to develop solutions tailored to area-specific assets and needs. Successful public health outcomes in disproportionately impacted communities are more likely when governmental public health considers community groups as integral to the public health infrastructure.