It Takes a Village: Building Community-Based Partnerships Across Sectors

he Overview:

This is a recording of a live webinar on November 1, 2023.

The Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is implementing new traffic safety policies that highlight equity through the National Road Safety Strategy and Safe System Approach. But keeping the public safe and healthy requires coordination and collaboration across multiple sectors. The Department of Public Health and the Department of Transportation have successfully worked together to build community partnerships to address health equity and improve road safety. This webinar will review these programs and policies and highlight specific examples from the field to learn how public health agencies in Alabama and Georgia are successfully reaching underserved and at-risk communities through evidence-based traffic safety programming.

Rita Hill is a Stakeholder Engagement Specialist with NHTSA. She supports stakeholder expansion and community engagement initiatives throughout the country. She has a background in international development and public health and is driven by the belief that prioritizing safety and accessibility for the most marginalized benefits everyone.

Erin Sterling is a Program Analyst and Stakeholder Engagement Specialist with NHTSA. She has experience working directly with the community at the YWCA in Manchester, NH, as well as with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of Grants and Research, where she managed a myriad of Department of Justice Grants, including the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, and the Violence Against Women Act. Erin holds a BA in Criminal Justice from Saint Anselm College and an MA in Public Administration from the University of New Hampshire.

Amanda Jackson is Alabama’s Regional Program Manager for NHTSA. She previously worked as a Grant Planner for the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety and was the Atlanta Regional Coordinator for the Georgia Department of Public Health’s Child Occupant Safety Project. Amanda has a Master of Public Health in Health Behavior from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion from the University of Georgia.

She has also invited several state-level partners to share their experiences, including:

Lynne Wilman, Unit Chief, Law Enforcement and Traffic Safety Division of Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs

Denise Bertaut, State Coordinator, Child Passenger Safety, Alabama Department of Public Health

Lisa Dawson, Director, Injury Prevention Program, Georgia Department of Public Health

Learning Objectives: By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Discuss how cross-sector collaborations can improve public health efforts
• Identify at least 2 local best practices for public health activities using NHTSA funding
• Explain how NHTSA is using a health equity focus to improve road safety
• Describe how NHTSA is supporting community engagement with underrepresented communities and communities overrepresented in crashes

CERTIFICATE:  The course contains two modules: a module to access the webinar and an evaluation module. After accessing both modules, learners will earn a certificate of completion.

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB6HP31680, Public Health Training Centers for $4,348,992. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.