DASH Releases Publication on Successful Mentor Program

We are excited to announce the latest publication of Data Across Sectors for Health (DASH) titled Interconnected: Data, Knowledge, and Action for Community Health. The publication details the important data-sharing work from the first two funding rounds of DASH’s Mentor Program.

DASH is a national initiative that looks for new and better ways to help organizations in the public health, social services, and health care sectors share data with one another.

The Illinois Public Health Institute (IPHI) leads the initiative in partnership with the Michigan-based public health institute MPHI. Together, IPHI and MPHI make up the Program Office of DASH, which is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

DASH provides funding, resources, and tools to organizations to increase their capacity to use data to improve the health of communities.

One funding includes a $650,000 Mentor Program that reaches 104 communities across 38 states. Under this funding program, seven experienced organizations help small groups of Mentee organizations develop their own data sharing abilities.

Programs like this collect granular and timely data, make information available to community residents, inform policy changes, and address systemic barriers to health. The end goal is always to help people and their communities – and to build the evidence base for a national movement.

In our most recent publication, titled Interconnected: Data, Knowledge, and Action for Community Health we feature ten Mentee collaborations from the first two rounds of the program.

We share case studies to highlight how Mentee communities can make progress in using their voice to shift power and build trust among partners and across sectors.

The examples in this publication illustrate how sharing data has real-world effects. We show how a magical transformation occurs when digital bits of information improve the health and well-being of real people in real communities.

We hope you’ll enjoy reading about the exciting work that organizations are doing across the nation – work that proves how data can help us improve the health and wellbeing of our people and communities.