Many have drawn the parallel between a public health strategic plan and a blueprint or a road map.

Many have drawn the parallel between a public health strategic plan and a blueprint or a road map. A strategic plan should clearly describe the public health identity and goals for a community, organization, or agency. In addition, the plan should describe how an entity will chart a course to achieve those goals and monitor its progress along the way.

 

Scenario

As the director of the local public health department, you are tasked with embarking upon a strategic planning process. You have decided to write an introductory open letter to the stakeholders in your community.

 

Instructions

This assignment has two components (deliverables):

 

A staff e-mail:

The purpose of the e-mail is to seek approval and feedback from your staff at the public health department on the letter for public dissemination.

In your e-mail, briefly evaluate strategies for achieving change and identify one theoretical framework for the organizational change strategies you have proposed.

Explain why you selected this theory, and justify why you think this is a successful approach in light of the overall strategic plan goals.

Utilize your Week 2 readings to support your discussion of relevant theory.

An open letter to the general public.

The letter to the general public should provide clear, concise information so readers understand the purpose, scope, and approaches that will be utilized to implement the strategic plan that will benefit the community.

As an open letter that will be posted to the local public health department’s website and social media outlets, you will expect wide distribution and comments/feedback.

The numbered assignment instructions outlined below correspond to the grading criteria in the assignment rubric, so be sure to address each point. You may also want to review the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed.

 

Evaluate why a specific public health initiative or change to an existing program is needed in a community.

Why does this community need this program?

What difference will it make?

Evaluate strategies for achieving change in an organization.

What approach or approaches for initiating change would work best with this organization?

Summarize the impediments that could be encountered with the proposed plan or program.

How big of a concern are they?

What can be done to circumvent these issues?

Recommend feasible approaches to solving potential problems with the proposed plan or program.

Consider strategies you will utilize to encourage community-based and collaborative approaches throughout the strategic planning process.

If disagreement arises, either among your staff, partners, or community members, how will you direct the resolution of those challenges?

Explain how implementation of the proposed plan or program will be funded

What community resources are available to support the strategic goal?

What new resources or revenue streams should be considered?

Summarize the intended future state of the proposed public health initiative.

What is the best possible outcome?

Write in accordance with the academic and professional requirements of the discipline, ensuring appropriate structure, grammar, usage, and style, and proper APA formatting of references.

Additional Requirements

Written communication: Your e-mail and letter should be well structured and concise, and the letter should respond to each question provided above. Both documents should generally be free of errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Format: One inch margins, in a readable font, no longer than 2 pages for both documents combined.

Citations and references: Include a minimum of 2 current, scholarly, and/or authoritative sources that support the e-mail’s content and the letter’s content. Your references need to conform to APA style and formatting guidelines. Include in-text citations and a references page.

Technical: Create a PDF of your final submission, and upload it to the assignment area.

You may choose to save this assignment in your ePortfolioLinks to an external site..

 

Resources

Capella University LibraryLinks to an external site..

APA Style and FormatLinks to an external site..

Capella Writing CenterLinks to an external site..

Journal and Book Locator Library GuideLinks to an external site..

Public Health (DrPH) Research GuideLinks to an external site..

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