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About

Our Mission

“To promote community health and development by connecting people, ideas, and resources”.

Our Vision

“To Eliminate barriers to wellness for the residents of Erie County”.

PartnerSHIP for a Healthy Community (also referred to simply as the “SHIP”) is Erie County’s community-based health improvement partner, as designated by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Through grassroots coordination, community coalitions, and collaboration with health care and other agencies, our SHIP is committed to the expansion of access to quality health care and the elimination of health care disparities in Erie County.

Our partners or “stakeholders,” who participate in regular task force meetings and assist us in reaching the SHIP’s goals, are made up of representatives from health care, business, social services, government, education, clergy, and nonprofit sectors. We manage both hard copy and electronic mailing lists to engage more than one hundred and fifty representatives from eighty-seven Erie community agencies.

This local collaboration provides a holistic approach to improving the health of our community through cooperative grant writing and coordination of programming. We are linking together established organizations to share the responsibility and accountability for improving local health outcomes.

Data from Pennsylvania’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey Project, Healthy People 2010 (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s national benchmark for improving health), and other national and state reports provide the SHIP with key information to focus on the most critical areas of need regarding health care. Our Strategic Direction Plan for Erie County includes twenty-six health improvement projects over a five year time span. These initiatives will be implemented through the SHIP’s stakeholders and are divided among two task forces: Access to Care and Disparity Health Education Health Literacy.

Projects will be implemented in areas with the highest poverty rates – 20% or greater in Erie County – and will service under served diverse populations in Erie County, including those differentiated by race, ethnicity, education, income, disability, geographic location, and sexual orientation.

For details on PartnerSHIP for a Healthy Community’s initiatives, please visit our Projects & Programs page.