Indiana Healthy Opportunities for People...

Indiana Healthy Opportunities for People Everywhere

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted preventative healthcare, exacerbated chronic illness, and cast a spotlight on how the health of Hoosiers is affected by the conditions in which people live, play, learn and work. Now, nearly 100 I-HOPE partners throughout the state are working together to address health disparities, which are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or in opportunities to achieve optimal health.

I-HOPE will address barriers to care that exist for people living in rural areas, minorities, and people from different cultures and backgrounds. From healthcare associations, coalitions and state agencies to faith-based organizations and universities, I-HOPE partners are collaborating to improve multiple conditions that affect health such as nutrition, affordable housing, transportation, childcare issues, and safe and secure employment.

For more detailed information, see the IHOPE Website.

Initiatives

A partnership between Purdue University and the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) aims to better prepare the state for the next pandemic by improving pandemic response, health equity, and health outcomes in Indiana counties considered most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic and, by doing so, to raise the entire public health system to new levels of connectivity and operational excellence. The IDOH has received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help reduce the burden of the COVID-19 pandemic among people living in vulnerable communities—both ethnic and minority populations as well as rural populations.

From July 2021 to May 2024 Purdue will convene partners, develop community-based strategies, build and improve public health processes and infrastructure; and report on and evaluate the grant. This is being accomplish through focus on five overarching activity areas including: Capacity Building, Support of Office of Minority Health’s Community Health Worker, District Health Equity Councils, Collaborative Tools Management for I-HOPE Partners, Human Trafficking Support, as well as Data and Evaluation Support.

County support is prioritized by vulnerability rankings with spread throughout the state. The map below highlights the counties of focus: Allen, Cass, Clark, Daviess, Delaware, Elkhart, Fayette, Lake, Madison, Scott, St. Joseph, Vanderburgh, Wayne. These counties are designated as ‘very high-risk’ or ‘high-risk’ on the 2021 COVID-19 Community Vulnerability Index (CCVI) or ‘moderate-to-high-risk’ on the 2016 Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). Low to no cost education and training is being made available as well as increased financial resources in the form of seed funds. This is to improve capacity within local health departments, non-profits, grass roots organizations, and critical care service providers in underserved and rural areas to address the social drivers of health.

Seed Funding

Starting April 2023, dollars have been made available to provide seed funds in support of community projects advancing the state in which everyone has fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health ^[i]. In partnership with Purdue’s Health Equity Initiatives and faculty, these funds are specifically used to address mental health, substance use, infant mortality, maternal mortality, or food security disparities. The chart below displays how much funding remains by county.

Ihope seed funding graph

To date, we are proud to say that 17 requests have been funded to grow roots in this effort to support increased resources amongst under-resourced communities. Above is a map of where these projects exist. These funds are being used for activities such as data collection, professional and community development, cross-sectoral collaborative partnerships, as well as sustainability to advance health equity and impact. Examples include needs assessments, coalition building, strategy development, registration costs, planning, education, training, marketing plans, resources, data support, and software. Requests are no longer being accepted. For more information contact IHOPE@purdue.edu.

I-HOPE

Initiatives

Seed Funding

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