TNIPH Awarded Funding for Project in Appalachia

A joint venture by the Tennessee Institute of Public Health (TNIPH), housed in the College of Public Health, and the Niswonger Foundation has received funding from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  This venture will include the Healthy Appalachia Institute (HAI) at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise and the South Carolina Institute of Medicine and Public Health (IMPH) in Columbia.  The project is called the “6-7-8 Project of Appalachia” and will facilitate roundtables and activities in South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee in coordination with the release of the 2016 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. The project geographically encompasses 21 Appalachian counties - six (6) in South Carolina, seven (7) in Virginia and eight (8) in Tennessee. 

The partners will select an issue that all three states share and expand upon that topic through community-based discussions, with the goal of identifying how to use the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps to more effectively support community health-improvement efforts.  Ginny Kidwell, executive director of TNIPH, and Nancy Dishner, president and CEO of the Niswonger Foundation, will direct the project in coordination with their partners in South Carolina and Virginia. 

The Tennessee Institute of Public Health began working with the Niswonger Foundation in 2012 to convene health discussion in Northeast Tennessee and to create opportunities for community growth through population health initiatives.  Executive Director Ginny Kidwell stated, "Expanding this collaboration to include partners in other Appalachian states will serve to improve capacity with the goal of ultimately improving regional health factors and health outcomes."