Are you interested in improving the place where you live, work, or play? A Community Assessment can help create an environment of improvement within a community. Whether it is a city or the whole county, a community assessment is the first ingredient needed for an overall healthy community. It is the foundation of a roadmap to follow; a guiding force. It unites. It highlights the strengths and weaknesses in the community as well as the opportunities and threats. It can help bring grant funds into the community. It helps businesses understand the community workforce. It is a chance for your voice to be heard and a chance to get to know your community deeper, to understand it better. But it can’t happen without you—the community!

The community drives the process. Community ownership is the fundamental component of a comprehensive community assessment. Because the community’s strengths, needs, and desires drive the process, MAPP (Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnership) provides the framework for creating a truly community-driven initiative. Community participation leads to collective thinking and, ultimately, results in effective, sustainable solutions to complex problems. Participants include, but are not limited to, those who live or work in Bullitt County, those who operate/own businesses in Bullitt County, elected officials, hospitals, private practices—both legal and health care, law enforcement, emergency management, transportation, media, and manufacturers.

Broad community participation is essential because a wide range of organizations and individuals contribute to the public’s overall health. Public, private, and voluntary organizations join community members and informal associations in the provision of local public health services. The MAPP process brings these diverse interests together to collaboratively determine the most effective way to conduct community improvement activities.

To initiate the MAPP process, lead organizations in the community begin by organizing themselves and preparing to implement MAPP. Community-wide strategic planning requires a high level of commitment from partners, stakeholders, and the community residents who are recruited to participate. This is your invitation to join the Bullitt County Health Department on this journey.

Through partnership, we will seek a shared vision and common values to provide a framework for pursuing long-range community goals by answering questions such as “What would we like our community to look like in 10 years?”

Through partnership, we will conduct four MAPP Assessments providing critical insights into challenges and opportunities throughout the community by answering questions such as “What is important to our community?” “How is quality of life perceived in our community?” and “What assets do we have that can be used to improve the community’s health?” These provide a deep understanding of the issues residents feel are important. Questions like “What are the activities, competencies, and capacities of our local public health system?” and “How are the Essential Services being provided to our community?” to assess all of the organizations and entities that contribute to the public’s health.

Questions like “How healthy are our residents?” and “What does the health status of our community look like?” identifies priority issues related to community health and quality of life.

Finally, questions like “What is occurring or might occur that affects the health of our community or the local public health system?” and “What specific threats or opportunities are generated by these occurrences?” focuses on the identification of forces such as legislation, technology, education, and other issues that affect the context in which the community and its public health system operates.

Once those questions are answered, the team of Partners comes together to identify critical issues that must be addressed for the community to achieve its vision and formulate goals and strategies for addressing each issue. The final phase of MAPP is the Action Cycle. During this phase, participants plan, implement, and evaluate. These activities build upon one another in a continuous and interactive manner and ensure continued success.

For more information on community assessment or to get involved in the process, contact 502-955-5355.