Organization: Children's Optimal Health
Mission: Children's Optimal Health provides a vehicle through which other organizations in the Austin Area may collaborate to share information to identify areas of need to improve the lives of children through policy change, community action, operations change and research in the public
Activities: Through a commitment to shared date, collaboration, and on-going communication, Children's Optimal Health (COH) uses visual images (GIS mapping) and analysis to inform policy, improve =operations, promote research, and mobilize the community to better the lives of our children and youth. In 2018, the focus on time-series mapping was intensified. The upgrading of School district maps demonstrating obesity densities and rates from 2009-2010 was begun in order to enable comparisons to following years. This task will continue into 2019 and beyond. Work continued in the areas of substance abuse, poverty, and housing; especially as these issues relate to mental health and public school districts in the Austin MSA. A major initiative was also begun on identifying and implementing systems for data governance and sharing. The organization continued its involvement with the Urban Institute's National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP), the Community Advancement Network (CAN), the Travis County Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (YSAPC), and the Early Childhood Counts Initiative (ECRC) involving among others, COH, United Way, E3 Alliace, and the University of Texas Dell Medical School.
NTEE category: Human Services
Secondary category: Community Improvement & Capacity Building