SHARE provides funding in the form of grants as yet another outreach into the community. From 1997 through January 2010, we have funded over $4.4 million to 70 different qualifying not-for-profit organizations. These organizations address substance abuse and treatment, tobacco, delinquency and crime prevention, family planning and education - to include teen pregnancy; affordable and available medical care; HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention, care and education; health education and public education.

History

Initially we used the top five unmet needs from the "Challenges We Face-Union County Needs Assessment Survey" as a focus. In 1999 we partnered with MCSA, AHEC, the Health Department and numerous community leaders and organizations in a health needs assessment known as Project TOUCH - Tremendous Opportunities for Union County Health. We had two core premises: broad based community involvement and a broad definition of health. We developed a stakeholder group and sent invitations to 187 people representing 30 sectors across Union County to look realistically at our health needs and explore innovative yet practical ways of addressing those needs at the local level. Over the next 18 months we held 13 meetings, had a total of 87 participants with an average attendance of 31. The average attendance of similar health coalitions nationally is 25 so we felt we had achieved broad based community support.

The first assignment for the stakeholder group was to redefine health. We asked them "What does it mean to be healthy in Union County?" We expected cancer, heart, weight, drugs and such. But where did sidewalks, bathrooms, transportation and teachers come from? We had a broader definition of health than we anticipated. We took those ideas and condensed them into demographic data and 10 different elements of health: education, health behaviors, culture/recreation, safety/violence, health services, economy, environment, homelessness/housing, substance abuse & transportation.

We then embarked on an indicator project. An indicator is a quantitative measure of change that occurs as a result of community action. We wanted a way to measure our outcomes - to assess our progress over time toward a healthy community. Current and historical data was obtained on 60 indicators to measure the health elements we had identified. We used the indicators to develop a Community Health Profile Report to analyze and rank the data into 5 target performance areas, which were education, healthy behaviors, culture/recreation, safety/violence and health services. SHARE Foundation uses those performance areas to focus our grant making initiatives.

Today and the Future

In 2010 SHARE will spearhead a reassessment of the Community Health Profile and those 5 targeted performance areas.

Due to the economic downturn and loss of jobs in Union County, we want to focus our grantmaking efforts on "real-time" health needs.

Contact:

     Debbie Watts
    

     403 West Oak, Suite 100
     El Dorado, AR 71730
     tel (870) 881-9015
     fax (870) 881-9017