Support the expansion of the Mission of Mercy model

The Mission of Mercy model is a free, two-day dental, vision, and hearing clinic which serves patients in need, and is operated by a local nonprofit organization, A Call to Care. The county will support this important program by helping to identify locations and sharing information about these services with residents.

In Progress

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) dental staff will participate in both days of the existing Mission of Mercy event in October 2025, to provide maximum support and increase capacity for patient treatment. A Deputy Director for Clinical Services position was added to the planning committee for the 2025 Mission of Mercy event to support these efforts.

The Mission of Mercy (MoM) program has identified that the most significant need is to improve linkage and accessibility to primary care, such as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) and other services. ACHD is actively working to link the FQHCs with MoM. 

Expand the effective Best Babies Zone Model

The Best Babies Zone model works to ensure that babies are born into a community that will enable them to thrive and reach their full potential by addressing risk factors for infant mortality.

Allegheny County will continue to identify more state and federal funding to expand the program to high-need communities. The program currently serves families and infants in Wilkinsburg through partnerships with:

• • Healthy Start, Inc., Pittsburgh
  • ACHD Family and Child Health Division
  • The University of Pittsburgh Centers for Health Equity
  • Trying Together
  • Women for a Healthy Environment

In Progress

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) provides infant mortality data to the Healthy Start, Inc. project, and partnered with the PA State Department of Health to conduct a local Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) study to inform the potential expansion of Best Babies Zone communities.

ACHD held a “Mommy and Baby Conference” in October 2024, and provided a summary of the results of Allegheny County’s 2022 PRAMS data to more than 60 maternal and child health participants, including Healthy Start, Inc.

In addition, participants were surveyed to determine their priorities from the dataset. Based on the responses, ACHD is working to create data profiles on each of the identified topics, which will be released throughout 2025.

With generous funding from Magee Women’s Institute, ACHD is partnering with the University of Pittsburgh’s EMBRACE project to implement and distribute a PRAMS-esque survey of 2025 births throughout the county. This data will help provide  understanding of the needs specific of Allegheny County residents, and inform local policy and practice change.

ACHD works closely with the Healthy Start, Inc. team by providing data to support their BIRTH Plan. ACHD staff attend meetings and contribute public health expertise. Healthy Start, Inc. receives funding from ACHD to support breastfeeding, Fetal Infant Mortality Review, and Healthy Baby Zone activities.

While the efforts of the Best Baby Zone continue in Wilkinsburg neighborhoods, due to deficits in funding, this initiative has not been expanded. The accomplishments include a walking path, safe sleep education groups, and helping Wilkinsburg work towards becoming a Breastfeeding-Friendly community.

Pioneer a new, centralized technology system that will make it easy to find youth mental health services

Maintained by the county’s behavioral health managed care organization in partnership with the Department of Human Service (DHS), this tool helps identify available capacity for mental health services when families and young people need it, saving time in trying to find care and service. The county will work to expand the tool to include substance use and adult mental health services over the coming year.

In Progress

DHS’s partner, Community Care Behavioral Health (CCBH), launched a tool that allows providers to report availability to accept new appointments, with the initial expectation of monthly updates on availability. To improve tool adoption, DHS and CCBH created and launched an incentive strategy that rewarded providers for appointment availability submissions.

While analysis of the data is still ongoing, preliminary results suggest that incentives have strongly increased appointment reporting. Future priorities will include solidifying an incentive strategy and developing a roadmap for appointment scheduling.

Support the Teen Mental Health Collaborative

The Teen Mental Health Collaborative is a coalition of community-based organizations that serve teens coordinated by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation. This coalition has been meeting since 2020 and has identified a plan to improve community-based triage, early intervention, and connection to services. The county will explore how to support this work, including through joint state advocacy for needed resources.

In Progress

The Teen Mental Health Collaborative (aka “The Collaborative”) is managed by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, and “facilitates opportunities for youth-serving organizations to share their approaches to providing emotional support, connection, and engagement for teens and to learn from one another.”

The Stand Together program through the Department of Human Services, a part of the Collaborative, is a school-based program that trains, inspires and equips students to act against stigma toward peers with mental and/or substance use disorders and promotes social inclusion and help-seeking behavior by youth.

There are currently 10 schools are enrolled in the Stand Together Program.

Advocate for sustainable funding for community health workers

Community health workers play a vital role in keeping people in our county healthy and improving health disparities. These frontline public health workers are trained to provide basic care to members of their community and to connect them to health care and social service systems.

Importantly, community health worker roles can be a professional development springboard, as these positions are available to workers without formal education equal to that of a doctor or nurse. The county will advocate for Medicaid reimbursement for community health workers and direct unspent Medicaid funds to help organizations hire more community members for these important roles.

In Progress

The PA Community Health Workers (PA CHW) collaborative is leading efforts across the state to advocate to build the infrastructure to support employers with the technical assistance needed to participate in billing, through the following actions:

1. 1.  Increase CHW awareness and hiring across PA
   2.  Develop state policies in collaboration with PA Department of Human Services that support low-barrier financial sustainability of the profession
   3.  Increase opportunities for CHW career advancement and professional development
   4. Grow and empower a network of CHW leaders across the organization

Support the expansion of Federally-Qualified Health Centers

Federally-Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) are federally-funded nonprofit clinics that serve medically underserved areas and populations and provide care regardless of an individual’s ability to pay. FQHCs are a critically important way that families can access the care they need, at one location that integrates physical and behavioral health care.

The county will work with the FQHCs to understand existing challenges and support their expansion by helping to identify expansion space and directing workforce development funding to help build staff capacity and create a pipeline into care careers for entry-level care workers, such as pediatric dental assistants and community-based birth workers.

In Progress

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) will present to various FQHCs to discuss their lab service needs and introduce ACHD Public Health Lab capabilities. The county is awaiting evaluation from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to determine expansion and designation needs.

Launch a large-scale, community-driven public health campaign to reduce a priority chronic disease in Allegheny County

The county will partner with community members to shape a campaign to educate and engage the public and reduce the impacts and inequities of chronic disease.

In Progress

LiveWell Allegheny is the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) countywide chronic disease campaign started in 2014. Though there have been challenges to sustainability due to resources, the initiative has been expanded through federal funding.

ACHD has two CDC grants including:

REACH
Focusing on chronic illnesses rates in nine county communities

BOLD
For Alzheimer’s and Dementia illnesses, focusing on building an infrastructure to support those living with or providing care

Expand the Hello Baby network of support for families with new babies

The Hello Baby network of support for families with new babies helps meet families’ needs by offering home-visiting programs. Allegheny County nurses meet new parents and their infants, both during pregnancy and postpartum, in the comfort of their own home, or in another location where they will feel at ease to provide support. Home visiting is associated with positive outcomes for both children and families.

  Completed

The Hello Baby Network now has services available to all families with new babies in the county and initiated outreach to the top 25% (3,000/year) of at need or at risk families.

The Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) has also increased investments in supplies for basic needs significantly this year, specifically crisis funding, diapers, meals, etc.

Increase enrollment in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program

Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, which offers a variety of health and nutrition services for mothers and children including supplemental nutritious foods and infant formula, immunization screenings, and breastfeeding support. The county has already made it easier to enroll in the WIC program by:

• Inviting residents to sign up at WIC clinics across the county
• Creating a mobile van that travels across the county to promote the WIC program and invite eligible residents to enroll
• Offering online enrollment options

The county will bring onsite enrollment to more existing clinics in the coming year, serving parents and young children in more neighborhoods countywide.

In Progress

Since the launch of All in Allegheny, WIC has increased enrollment by 20% through the WIC mobile outreach van and UPMC Magee satellite offices, and retained 90% or more of its staff.

In 2025, WIC plans to provide services at a AHN facility and partner with their mobile unit. The Allegheny County Health Department launched the “Nourish Your Neighbor” campaign to encourage small stores to become authorized WIC vendors and increase nutritional offerings at their locations.

The application to become an authorized WIC vendor is open and available. To date, two additional stores completed the application and one has a pending contract.

Support community-based organizations to streamline enrollment in programs and services for consenting community members

Currently, community members seeking support are required to enroll in many different services with different organizations, often providing the same information over and over again. To make it easier for community members, and to support community-based organizations in working together to support residents, the county will partner with community-based organizations to identify ways to streamline enrollment while protecting residents’ privacy and giving them an opportunity to opt in.

In Progress

The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) is working to facilitate collaboration across multiple departments and partner organizations to improve identification, enrollment, and tracking for a coordinated referral system.

Expand the effective Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) program

The Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (R.E.A.C.H.) program is a federally-funded partnership between the ACHD and a diverse coalition of over 25 partners working together to achieve health equity and prevent chronic diseases by increasing access to healthy foods, physical activities, and breastfeeding support and encouragement.

The county will identify additional state and federal resources to expand this program to additional high-need neighborhoods. Over the next five years, the coalition will prioritize improving breastfeeding rates, increasing trail mileage and access to trails to encourage outdoor activities, improving access to fresh fruits and vegetables, and improving access to vaccination opportunities.

Currently, the program serves residents in:

• • Clairton
  • Duquesne
  • McKeesport
  • North Braddock
  • North Versailles
  • Rankin
  • Wilkinsburg
  • City neighborhoods of North Side, Homewood/Larimer, the Hill District, Garfield, Hazelwood, West End, and the Hilltop

In Progress

This grant-funded program is in its seventh of the ten-year plan to address chronic illness within the county’s most vulnerable communities.

The grant funds 15 nonprofits, as well as Allegheny County Economic Development, to improve physical activity, nutrition, breastfeeding, and adult vaccinations.

The Year 6 and Year 7 reports will be available in September 2025.

Invest in Racial Equity Fellows joining County government

The Department of Human Services (DHS) recently launched a Racial Equity Fellowship for residents interested in promoting equity and social justice within local government. The Racial Equity Fellows are full-time staff who work closely with department leadership, community leaders, and stakeholders to develop and implement initiatives that address racial disparities and disproportionality within the human services systems. Residents with first-hand experience in overcoming systems were encouraged to apply. The first cohort of 10 fellows is committed to serving through 2025. The county will follow the results of this pilot and will use learnings to consider future expansion.

  Completed

All Racial Equity Fellows have been hired and are implementing projects across the department.

Recruit and support more diverse leaders to join the Health Department

Recruiting and supporting more diverse leaders to join the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) will help shape and implement public health strategies the county will deliver in the coming years.

In Progress

ACHD continually makes efforts to recruit diverse leadership talents that bring new ideas and positive outcomes to the department.

Build on the City of Pittsburgh’s Food Justice Fund

The City of Pittsburgh’s Food Justice Fund, a $3M investment of American Rescue Plan Act, funds and supports grassroots efforts to increase access to fresh food across the city. Once this fund launches, Allegheny County will evaluate the program to assess whether to create a Food Justice Fund for residents across the entire county.

 Not Started

Update coming soon.