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Community Health Improvement Plan

This plan defines how Washington County and community partners come together to improve health equity and address priority health issues

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We are always looking to connect with new partners! If you are interested in getting involved, receiving updates, or connecting with other community organizations involved in the CHIP, please fill out this survey.

Live Well

Every three years, Washington County Public Health (WCPH) creates and releases a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) in collaboration with community partners. The CHIP is a community plan for action that defines how Washington County and partners come together to improve health equity and address priority health issues. It is based on a comprehensive assessment of local data, including the Healthy Columbia Willamette Collaborative Regional Needs Assessment and local community engagement and data sources.

Updates and Current Work

WCPH is wrapping up a year-long community engagement process to inform the next CHIP and other Washington County Public Health plans. This process included 45 engagement sessions – including tabling at community events, listening sessions, knowledge exchanges, and focus groups – across Washington County. You can learn more about this process and the findings by watching the recording of our Community Data Party below:

The Spanish transcription of the Aug. 26, 2024 data party is also available:

WCPH plans to release a “Bridge” CHIP in July 2025. This will be a smaller CHIP focused on improving processes and incorporating feedback from our community engagement efforts as well as lessons learned from the COVID-19 response. Once released, WCPH will work with partners to create and release a full CHIP in July 2026.

Past Community Health Improvement Plans

WCPH has created community health improvement plans every three years since 2014. You can see each of these plans below.

CHIP Community Grants Program

To implement the CHIP priorities and goals, Washington County Public Health offers a Community Grant opportunity each year. A community organization may apply for up to $35,000 or up to $70,000 for collaborative projects. Projects should address at least one of the CHIP foundational goals and at least one of the CHIP priority areas.

The 2024-25 grant application cycle has closed, and we are excited to announce the following awardees:

  • HIV Alliance: Increasing Equitable Access to Care by Providing Basic Needs Assistance to Individuals Impacted by Substance Use Disorder and Houselessness
  • Hillsboro School District: Collaborative Solutions for Trauma-Responsive Schools
  • Center for Intercultural Organizing DBA Unite Oregon: Advancing Health Equity
  • Oregon Health & Science University (Hillsboro Medical Center): It Takes a Village: Expanding Support for Hillsboro Medical Center's Perinatal Community Health Worker
  • R.E.A.P.: REAP Behavioral Health Program
  • African Refugee Immigrant Organization: Youth and Young Adult Substance Use and Suicide Prevention and Achieving Social and Emotional Wellness
  • Adelante Mujeres: Health Equity for the Latine community in Washington County
  • Familias en Accion: Improving Latino/a/e Health & Well-being through Climate-Focused Community Engagement
  • Family Justice Center of Washington County: Building Capacity to End Family Violence: Creating a Volunteer Peer Navigation Program

These organizations will implement their projects through June 30th, 2025. Please check back for more information about the impact of these projects and for information on upcoming opportunities.

You can find examples of past grantees and their projects in the documents here:

Toolkit

Equity and Trauma Informed Care (TIC) are guiding principles for Washington County Health and Human Services and the Washington County Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP). To ensure these values are implemented throughout our collaborative health improvement work, this toolkit was created by the CHIP Leadership team to serve as a guides and templates for CHIP committees and to support partners in their equity and trauma-informed approaches.

These tools are meant to be examples, guides and templates that can be used as-is or adapted to meet the needs of committees and community partners. This toolkit is a “living document” that will grow and change as we continue to learn how to best support and foster collaboration across our many partnerships in Washington County. Updated versions will be provided to CHIP partners and posted regularly.