Hi Virtual Community!

Our team is interested in learning more about your programmatic work related to chronic disease prevention via nutrition, or food is/as medicine programs.

Please email tmoore@naccho.org if you have a program at your LHD, or partner with a Food is Medicine program in your county. 

Reminder: Join us April 21 (1–2 PM ET)!

Don’t miss our upcoming Cardiovascular Health Community of Practice (CoP) call featuring the CDC Foundation’s Live to the Beat Coaching Program.

This free virtual program supports women in taking small, realistic steps toward better heart health through a 5-session series. During the call, we’ll also share a ready-to-use messaging toolkit to help you promote the program and engage your community.

Come learn how you can share this resource with partners and expand your local cardiovascular health efforts.

What’s on the Agenda:

·       Welcome & CoP Updates – Johanna Segovia, NACCHO

·       Live to the Beat Coaching Program – Ginger Williford, CDC Foundation

·       Speaker Q&A – All

·       Peer-Learning Discussion – All

·       Closing and Wrap Up – NACCHO

April 21 | 1 PM ET
Join NACCHO’s Cardiovascular Health Community of Practice for our next peer-learning call featuring the CDC Foundation’s Live to the Beat!

We’ll introduce a new virtual coaching program offering live sessions and on-demand resources to support community-based cardiovascular health work. Stay tuned for more information!

Already registered? You’re all set.
New participants welcome: Click here

Hello Strategic Skills Collaborative! This month's discussion post is live and we would love to hear your thoughts about Systems and Strategic Thinking and any resources you have used in the past to help advance in that area. See the discussion below! 

A Program of Johns Hopkins' 150th Celebration:

Feeding the Future: Food, Climate, and Global Stability.

Speakers:

• Sam Kass
• Marion Nestle
• Sam Myers
• Jessica Fanzo

Please note that this program will not be livestreamed.
If you are unable to join us on March 23, please decline your invitation.

The Million Hearts® Hypertension Control Challenge recognizes and celebrates health care professionals, practices, and health systems that have achieved exceptional hypertension control rates of at least 80%. Practices and clinicians in the U.S. and its territories are eligible. Apply to be a 2026 Hypertension Control Champion by April 30, 2026.

Learn more about the Challenge rules and eligibility

Application form

The NACCHO Chemical Preparedness Team will be hosting a Workshop at the 2026 Preparedness Summit in Baltimore on April 14th at 1:30pm. 

Register for the conference and schedule details here:Registration - 2026 Preparedness Summit

1,000 Days released the #March4Nutrition Social Media Toolkit in honor of National Nutrition Month. The toolkit offers sample social media posts and graphics that align with the observance's weekly themes, making it easy to participate throughout the month. Week three's theme is Breastfeeding Support to Help Families Thrive and will take place on Sunday, March 15, through Saturday, March 21.

In last week's webinar, one of the audience members asked if the self-assessment that appears in the Strategic Skills Training Platform would fulfill the PHAB accreditation requirements. Good new, YES!!

Please see below for an answer from our contacts at PHAB:

"[the self-assessment] is based on an accepted set of core competencies and the option to “benefit from more training” would lead to a competency assessment. (8.2.1 RD 1b)  Results of the assessment could be used to identify priority gaps. (8.2.1 A RD 1d)"

Link to the Training Platform (and self-assessment) can be found here

We’re excited to share a new campaign from the CDC Foundation called Hypertension Bites, focused on elevating the conversation around controlling blood pressure. The campaign features clear, actionable hypertension messages and ready-to-use resources you can share with your audiences.

Join their upcoming webinar on February 25 to:

• Explore new research to help inform your communications about blood pressure control
• Preview new Hypertension Bites campaign assets and patient education materials
• Learn about collaboration opportunities and strategies for reaching your audiences

Together, we can empower more people to achieve blood pressure control—turning confusion into clarity, frustration into confidence, and information into action.

If you’re interested, please register to attend and feel free to share this invitation with colleagues and partners who may benefit.

You can register here.

BreastfeedLA invites you to a webinar, Holding Space for Lived Experiences: Compassionate and Culturally-Responsive Services, designed to deepen your understanding and strengthen your service delivery with compassion and cultural responsiveness.

Date: February 24, 2026

Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM PT

Supporting individuals and communities from diverse backgrounds requires more than intention, it requires insight, empathy, and culturally informed approaches. In this session, Holding Space for Lived Experiences: Compassionate and Culturally-Responsive Services, you’ll gain practical frameworks and tools to elevate how you show up in your work and strengthen your impact.

What you’ll learn:

• How intersecting identities shape lived experiences and influence service outcomes
• The ways that different types of trauma impact individuals and communities
• Historical context on systemic violence and its effects on care systems
• How liberation psychology principles can support more responsive, equitable services

Featured Speaker: Jonathan Wicks

Jonathan Wicks is a clinician, musician, and tech entrepreneur who currently serves as the Associate Director of Social Change and Innovation at the YWCA of San Gabriel Valley. He holds an undergraduate degree in cognitive psychology with a research focus on cognitive neuroscience, and a graduate degree in social work with a clinical focus on violence prevention. Jonathan brings a multidisciplinary lens to his work supporting individuals exposed to trauma, behavioral health challenges, and social inequities. Beyond clinical practice, he is deeply invested in cultivating young musicians into world-class performers and developing innovative products through web, mobile, and game development.

This webinar is ideal for providers, advocates, and community leaders seeking to deepen their practice and strengthen their impact. Reserve your spot and register today!

Just a reminder that the next Cardiovascular Health Community of Practice (CoP) peer-learning call will take place on January 20 at 1:00 PM ET.

This session will feature a spotlight presentation from the Alzheimer’s Association, focused on the connection between hypertension and Alzheimer’s disease, with an overview of evidence-based risk reduction strategies and practical tools for public health practice.

If you registered for the CoP earlier, you’re already registered for this session. New participants are welcome to join.

📅 January 20, 2026
⏰ 1:00–2:00 PM ET
🔗 Register here: https://naccho.zoom.us/meeting/register/v5gVLndLTJaCengREHeTEw

We hope you’ll join us.

North Star Birthing Services created a new Michigan Black Birthworker Directory, a resource that connects families with Black birth workers across the state. This directory highlights the expertise and care of Black birth workers in Michigan, helping families access the care they need during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period.

Cell: "Microbial colonization programs are structured by breastfeeding and guide healthy respiratory development" Media highlights include:

• NYU Langone Health: "Breastfeeding Is Crucial to Shaping Infant's Microbes & Promoting Lung Health"

Globalization and Health: "Understanding the marketing of BMS in China through pregnant women and new mothers' diary"

Hospital Pediatrics: "Increasing Pasteurized Donor Human Milk Use in a Level 1 Newborn Nursery"

International Breastfeeding Journal:

• "Fatherhood and breastfeeding: a qualitative exploration of counselling experiences"
• "Predictors of exclusive breastfeeding: a systematic review and meta-analysis"

International Journal of Nursing Studies: "Skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding after caesarean section: A systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention studies"

Women and Birth: "Factors and interventions that positively influence breastfeeding rates at six months postpartum: An integrative literature review"

We are excited to launch NACCHO’s Cardiovascular Health Community of Practice – a space for local health departments to connect, share strategies, and learn from each other in the effort to prevent cardiovascular disease and reduce its risk factors.  

First Call: October 21, 1:00 PM ET

Recurring Schedule: The CoP will meet quarterly at 1:00 PM ET

• January 20, 2026
• April 21, 2026
• July 21, 2026

Each 60-minute virtual session will feature a spotlight presentation and an interactive discussion with peers across the country. Details on upcoming spotlight presentations will be shared closer to each date.

We’re excited to announce the re-launch of our Cardiovascular Health Community of Practice forum on NACCHO’s Virtual Communities! This is your space to connect with peers, share resources, and discuss strategies to prevent and manage cardiovascular disease in your communities.

Join the conversation! Your participation strengthens the network and helps advance cardiovascular health across communities!

NACCHO’s Informatics Champions CoP is reconvening following summer break!

Join us on Thursday, September 4^th at 4 PM ET for a discussion on Informatics Program structure and organization. Join us for presentations from Melody Brown (LA County), Alastair Matheson (Seattle-King County), and Mamta Parakh (NYC).

Call recording and slides will be uploaded here following the meeting. 

Topic: Informatics Champions CoP

Time: Sep 4, 2025 04:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://naccho.zoom.us/j/85674798541

View meeting insights with Zoom AI Companion

https://naccho.zoom.us/launch/edl?muid=b72c0b57-b3b8-420b-aafe-7b16dc0674a8

Meeting ID: 856 7479 8541

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https://naccho.zoom.us/meetings/85674798541/invitations?signature=DONFOPlBmeb3ctQaAM5aPKjjNmvVA4kvvo70NvaXn7s

Just listened to a great podcast episode featuring LHIT member Jason Frame:
“Building Trust, Not Turnover – Jason Frame’s Guide to Public Sector IT.”

Jason (CIO of Southern Nevada) talks about something that doesn’t get enough attention in tech leadership—how to keep great people on your team when you can’t always compete with big salaries.

His advice: build trust, give people ownership, and create a team culture that makes them want to stay. Simple, but powerful.

If you work in IT or public health, this one’s worth a listen:
🎧 Building Trust, Not Turnover