History

In demonstration of their continued support for voluntary associations of local public health agencies, in 2004, the North Carolina Legislature granted funds to support the NC Public Health Incubator Collaboratives to improve public health outcomes. With these funds, the Northeastern North Carolina Partnership for Public Health (est. 1999) and three newly established partnerships, based on the Northeastern Partnership model, (Northwest Partnership for Public Health, Southern Piedmont Partnership for Public Health, and Western North Carolina Partnership for Public Health) quickly organized developing mission and vision statements, bylaws, and a self-defined governance process to begin the initial stages of collaborative development so as to begin addressing their top regional public health priorities.

In their first year of programmatic funding, the four partnerships worked to build regional capacity through efforts such as contracting with grant-writers to leverage funds, purchasing technology through economies of scale, and enhancing regional knowledge through shared trainings, experience, and expertise of participating health directors, staff, and partners. Other projects involved community health improvement initiatives such as social marketing campaigns and teen tobacco use prevention and cessation efforts. In addition, some regions worked to improve their organizational effectiveness through analyzing and suggesting best practices for billing and collections, developing new employee orientation materials, contracting with experts to study information systems, and preparing for accreditation.

In building on the momentum and progress from the first year, the Incubator Collaboratives were awarded additional legislative funding for the next two years to expand. Two new partnerships were established: Central Partnership for Public Health and the South Central Partnership for Public Health. Additional funding was also allocated to two statewide projects shared by all of the partnerships: one led by the North Carolina Alliance of Local Health Agencies and the other by the NC Division of Public Health's Diabetes branch.

Today, Incubators continue to address North Carolina 's most pressing public health priorities with stunning results. For instance, Incubators have, together, leveraged current core funds by raising nearly $12 million in grant awards for local projects. However, promising projects have not been pursued due to insufficient core funds – only half of the proposed health department projects were able to be funded in 2007.