With a score of at least 7 or more from the Action Plan for Readiness exercise, approach this venture with confidence that you’ve got what it takes to make the implementation of the GCPT successful in your community!
However, if your community scores lower than a 7, implementing the GCPT may be exactly what your community needs. Sometimes offering something different is all it takes to bring community champions forward, or begin conversations about culture that haven’t previously been discussed. More effort will be necessary for successful implementation, but overcoming barriers are what helps us grow. So think outside the box, seek a fresh perspective, and dig in!
Before we get into the actual technical install let’s think about where people are going to access your platform. Whether you’re doing this on your own or working with a technical team, you’ll need to have a good idea of what you want your domain name to be before you start the process.
What’s in a name?
Choosing your domain name carefully with inclusion at the forefront is a critical piece to the success of your efforts. It’s unlikely that the community or agency stakeholders will feel ownership of the platform if it’s buried in an organization’s existing website. A name that is reflective of the purpose and is easy to remember is a great place to begin.
Collaboration: A Fresh Perspective
You’ve already identified the person who will champion this effort in the “Readiness Exercise”. The highest performing GCPT implementers have an attitude of service and are eager to invite both the community and agency stakeholders to share what matters to them by conveying the benefits of the platform and meeting people where they are! Traditional approaches to engagement and the notion of “setting the table” aren’t recommended. However, pulling up a chair to their table and fostering meaningful relationships that will be reflected on the Planning Tool is the essence of the type of true community engagement that can be beautifully demonstrated on your installation just as it is in Garrett County, MD, home of the GCPT family.
Community Champions
There are many resources that help us think about the ways we define and engage with our community. A collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute published a learning guide titled, Partnering with Residents-Getting Started*.
We suggest identifying a minimum of three active community champions as early in the process as possible to ensure everything from concept design to continued implementation of the GCPT is tightly woven with an active community presence that will improve organic sustainability of the work.
Foundations of the Action Groups within your GCPT
What matters most to people will be the basis of the action groups that create mobilization within your community. It’s here that you’ll gather both qualitative and quantitative data around the topics that are of greatest interest in your community. It’s helpful to work with your community champions to build a content framework for a few action groups before launch to use as a model as your process begins.
Pick a date and stick to it
Going “LIVE” and actually launching the site is more difficult than you might imagine. The installation of the GCPT has been the primary focus, but the Planning Tool needs to come to life! As we guided five diverse communities through an initial replication pilot, reassurance in their processes and coaching to maintain the original intent of the Planning Tool made it easier to commit. It takes serious vulnerability to put your work out for the world to see. There always seems to be something to tweak or another plug-in that may improve the user experience, but at some point, you need to trust your work and push the button. That’s why choosing a date ahead of time and strictly following your project timeline is recommended to launch within a reasonable time frame.
population.health.blog 