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Introduction

To explore issues related to community-driven power-building efforts to improve population health, the virtual public workshop Community Power in Population Health Improvement convened on January 28 and 29, 2021, was hosted by the Roundtable on Population Health Improvement, Board of Population Health and Public Health Practice, at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. In the welcoming remarks, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, professor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and vice dean for population health and health equity at the University of California, San Francisco, highlighted that the roundtable recognizes that health and quality of life for all are shaped by interdependent, historical, and contemporary social, political, economic, environmental, genetic, behavioral, and health care factors. The roundtable seeks to provoke and catalyze urgently needed multisector community-engaged collaborative actions. The Community Power in Population Health Improvement workshop is premised on the belief that community leadership, voice, and power are essential drivers for successful population health efforts. In a relatively short amount of time, the field of population health has shifted the discussion of the role and potential of the community, moving from viewing community as a participant in population health efforts to acknowledging that the community is the rightful leader and driver of these efforts, said Bibbins-Domingo. She said:

The workshop was designed to feature advocates and subject-matter experts in community power-building efforts sharing their perspective, knowledge, and wisdom. Bibbins-Domingo noted that the roundtable aligns scientific research and evidence with lived experiences and narratives as fundamental and complementary tools for supporting community power, and she emphasized that the efforts carried out in and by communities are not new. What is new is the heightened and simultaneous attention that the community and its power are garnering from public and private sectors alike, which further spotlights the need for forums, roundtables, and additional spaces where discussions on power are held because collective power is built through relationships.

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES

The workshop was organized in six sessions held over 2 days in a virtual format, featuring invited presentations and discussion that focused on the following:

• Understanding the underpinnings of community-led initiatives;
• Exploring power—its dynamics, manifestations, and narratives—as it pertains to the agency needed for communities to articulate their health and well-being needs and to act to address them;
• Exploring the approaches, elements, capacities, and ecosystems that support communities to lead their own efforts;
• Exploring the evidence base that links community power with systems of transformation and health equity outcomes;
• Listening and learning from examples of community-led population health efforts in action; and
• Communicating insights from entities supporting community-led efforts.

The Statement of Task to the planning committee is provided in Box 1-1. The workshop began with examples of effective power-building movements, then explored theoretical frameworks, models, and approaches for power building in the context of population health improvement, and concluded with practical applications and implications for the evaluation of linking community power with health equity outcomes. In accordance with the policies of the National Academies, the workshop did not

attempt to establish any conclusions or develop recommendations about needs and future directions, focusing instead on issues identified by the speakers and workshop participants. In addition, the organizing committee’s role was limited to planning the workshop. The proceedings of the presentations and discussions held at the workshop was prepared by designated rapporteurs in accordance with institutional guidelines.

ORGANIZATION OF THE PROCEEDINGS

The proceedings of this workshop is organized in seven chapters. Chapter 2, “Daring to Lead,” highlights the initiatives and vision of leaders of two community-building organizations: the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Black Voters Matter Fund. Chapter 3, “Community Power in the Context of Population Health,” offers insights from two community organizers whose efforts are situated at the intersection of public health and civic engagement. Chapter 4, “Community Power: Approaches and Models,” explores the practical applications of strategies for building community power. Chapter 5, “From Vision to Action: Effective Ways to Support Grassroots Community Power Building,” examines approaches to community power building across fields, including perspectives from funders, advocates, and coalition builders. Chapter 6, “Community-Led Transformational Narratives,” presents a variety of place-based initiatives, emphasizing the value of incorporating culture, history, and community knowledge in collaborative power-building efforts. Chapter 7, “Amplifying the Empirical Base Linking Community Power and Health Equity,” explores the limitations of traditional research methodologies in evaluating power-building practices and examines the use of responsive assessment methods in this field. Brief highlights from

the workshop are provided in Box 1-2, and an overview of the various definitions of power provided by different speakers is provided in Box 1-3. The references are in Appendix A; the biosketches of the speakers, moderators, and planning committee members are in Appendix B; the workshop agenda is in Appendix C; and recommended readings and resources are in Appendix D.

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