Leveraging Partnerships to Shape Funding and Policy Across Public Health Issues
July 08, 2026 | Caitlin Langhorne Griffith, Rachel Scheckman
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), suicide, overdose, and <a href="https://healthylife7.com/choctaw-nation-earns-mental-health-america-gold-bell-seal-for-workplace-mental-health/" title="Choctaw Nation Earns Mental Health America Gold Bell Seal for Workplace Mental Health”>mental health-related concerns are interconnected public health issues that, when addressed simultaneously, can better reduce negative outcomes and help children and families thrive. By preventing ACEs, state, territorial, and freely associated state health agencies (S/THAs) can reduce the likelihood of later suicidal behaviors, substance use, and other mental health conditions from occurring
Minnesota, Michigan, and Kansas have worked concurrently on these issues by using a shared risk and protective factor (SRPF) approach, leveraging flexible funding, and promoting family-friendly workplaces. The common thread throughout each of these states is how they maximize partnerships at the state and local level to address these issues together rather than in silos.
Minnesota Implements a Shared Risk and Protective Factor Framework
The Minnesota Department of Health’s (MDH’s) Division of Injury Prevention and Mental Health houses a variety of injury, violence, suicide, and substance misuse prevention work. The co-location of these program areas provides increased opportunities for addressing primary prevention strategies at the intersection. While each program has its own priorities and policies, some share budgets or have partnerships that enable braiding of funding. MDH has strong internal connections that they described as “essential, vital, and non-negotiable,” with a willingness to reduce barriers between teams. Through the Governor’s Office of Addiction and Recovery, MDH has expanded cross-sector collaboration with many state agencies and partners (e.g., Department of Education).
In 2021, MDH revised its State Plan to Prevent Injury and Violence Using a Shared Risk and Protective Factor Framework. It identified five key areas (i.e., community connectedness, economic justice, and the built environment) that shaped a community of practice supporting coalition-based grant programs in implementing an SRPF approach. MDH also incorporated ACEs into a CDC Injury Prevention grant and combined funding streams for broader intersectional prevention work while still supporting crisis services. As MDH prepares for its next state plan, the team is conducting regional listening sessions and focus groups with priority populations and grantees to identify challenges, surface community-driven solutions, and improve implementation — as community engagement is central to MDH’s strategic planning.
Minnesota’s cross‑cutting prevention work is supported by coordinated policy efforts and state legislation. The Comprehensive Overdose Morbidity Prevention Act and new cannabis legislation were significant policy changes because they specifically support public health work on mental health, substance use prevention, and SRPFs. These policies were made possible by years of work demonstrating that upstream approaches to substance misuse prevention were effective in improving whole-population health. Internal partnerships and engagement from the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet broadened the coalition and increased the number of voices advocating for shared prevention strategies. Minnesota shows how agency alignment and policy change provide the necessary foundation for sustaining efforts to address and prevent multiple public health issues over time.
“Policy change is a marathon. People spend decades building their cases, building coalitions, talking to new partners, and getting new angles. Anyone who is trying to do policy work in their state may feel that the work is futile because they will continue to have legislative losses and policy losses. And they’ll happen until you suddenly, one day, win. That’s how policy works.”
Michigan Leverages Opioid Settlement Funding Flexibilities
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ (MDHHS’) opioid prevention strategy aims to decrease fatal overdose rates and eliminate disparities through evidence-based prevention and tailored communication to the highest risk populations. This takes a data-driven approach to addressing the overdose crisis by aligning strategy, funding, and implementation across state and local efforts. Michigan received approximately $1.8 billion in opioid settlement dollars, split between local governments and the state. MDHHS leadership took an innovative approach by choosing to direct these funds toward addressing upstream prevention and cross-cutting strategies, and ensured that ACEs, suicide, and mental health were included alongside overdose response efforts. This allows MDHHS to better align priorities and reduce competition for resources.
MDHHS had a strategic plan and coordinated programs and funding to work toward the same goals, ensuring alignment between how funds are administered and supplemented across state and federal sources to support upstream prevention. For example, MDHHS braided opioid settlement funds with SAMHSA and Medicaid funding to cover large-scale, no-cost naloxone distribution and fill other gaps. It made early strategic investments in data infrastructure to guide funding decisions over time and identify high-need communities. An outcome of these investments was the development of the Substance Use Vulnerability Index, which has helped the state identify high-need communities, target resources, and measure the impact of interventions. For instance, MDHHS utilized opioid settlement dollars to reach foster care children by funding after-school programming. Through this programming, MDHHS focused on increasing protective factors and positive childhood experiences among a population that is at an increased risk for substance use and suicide. Furthermore, Michigan expanded funding for after-school programs beyond children in foster care by identifying high-need communities through data and cross-sector collaboration.
Cross-sector partnerships (e.g., early education and academic institutions) have been essential for extending the reach of prevention efforts and ensuring that strategies strengthen capacity, facilitate knowledge sharing, and are responsive to community needs. Sustaining connections across government and with local organizations requires relationship building, consistent engagement, and responsiveness to partner input. MDHHS’s opioid strategy formalized collaboration through initiatives like the Opioid Task Force, which brings together many organizations (e.g., government agencies, advocacy groups, providers, and other local experts) in a space dedicated to cross-sector coordination and shared decision-making. The Opioid Task Force played a critical role in developing Michigan’s overdose strategy. Leadership buy-in and well-established relationships have been instrumental in successful intersectional work, especially as these partnerships have required significant time and effort to function effectively.
Another core strategy for MDHHS is coordinating with state partners to incorporate community feedback into its statewide overdose prevention work, as shown by the Michigan Health Communications Initiative, a partnership of Michigan nonprofits that includes MDHHS. The initiative monitors media and identifies health misinformation, enabling the development of tailored, scientifically accurate information. The program has built relationships with individuals with lived experience and community-based organizations by incorporating their input from town halls and other discussion opportunities into their messaging and dissemination strategies. MDHHS also invests in partners by maximizing funding to community-based organizations. This strengthens both its impact and sustainability while ensuring that interventions are responsive to community needs.
MDHHS’s overall approach has helped Michigan achieve a 35% statewide reduction in overdose deaths within one year, and overdose deaths have come down by 47% since 2021, placing Michigan among the top five states nationally in reducing overdose mortality. This impact was driven by creatively braiding opioid settlement funds to address shared upstream risk factors through filling gaps and reducing fragmented prevention efforts.
“The strategy has to drive the operations. Our strategy drives how we’re spending our money, but the other part of this is we’re making sure that when we work with all of our local organizations and local governments, that we’re trying to match wherever we can and maximize their funds as well.”
Kansas Focuses on Family-Friendly Workplaces
After several years of private and locally raised funding by the Kansas Children’s Service League, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment received funding from CDC in 2019 to support the Kansas Essentials for Childhood Initiative. This initiative is focused on primary prevention at the intersection of ACEs, mental health, and substance use disorders by establishing family-friendly workplace policies and practices, as well as promoting social connectedness. To support the program, the Kansas Children’s Service League and Kansas Department of Health and Environment recognized the strength of collective impact and established a statewide coalition, Kansas Power of the Positive (KPoP), a network of 40+ agencies working to prevent child maltreatment and other ACEs.
One of KPoP’s first initiatives was to develop a Family-Friendly Workplace Survey using an employee-focused approach to help employers across the state understand the impacts of workplace policies and practices, and guide improvements to better support employees and their families. KPoP worked diligently to improve the survey design and ground it in existing research. It determined the next steps to support the survey, including producing a resource guide for participating employers and developing a recognition opportunity for them. The survey results inform and guide decision-making and policy changes, with assistance from the resource guide and from businesses and organizations that serve as mentors. Most recently, KPoP developed a policy brief for legislators and policymakers on Kansas data and KPoP’s initiatives.
To track progress over time, Kansas uses indicators and collects input from employers across industries to demonstrate the impact of effective policies and how they vary by setting. To date, 37 employers have administered the survey, and the team has documented at least 28 workplace policy changes affecting more than 10,000 employees. Partnerships continue to play a critical role in the survey’s success, providing facilitation, implementation support, and technical assistance for the program, as well as hosting the survey and creating follow-up resources.
These efforts to improve workplaces for families have contributed to successful ACEs reduction. This is demonstrated by the 2024 America’s Health Rankings, in which Kansas moved from the 38th to the 30th state in preventing ACEs. By developing a survey focused on assessing employee needs and engaging partners across Kansas throughout the process, employers gained the information needed to drive policy changes that support families
“We had early childhood and business come together around this and build a wide enough tent that the legislators took notice… now we are working hard to get it used so that we can ask for more funding.”
Key Takeaways and Considerations
Minnesota, Michigan, and Kansas demonstrate how to not only address the intersection but to see meaningful impact through intentional coordination across partnerships, funding, and policy. Based on these state successes, consider the following as your jurisdiction moves forward in working to address the intersection:
- Partner with community organizations and local leaders to increase the efficacy of communications, especially where there is distrust.
- Work to build trusting relationships across diverse partners by identifying common underlying root causes. Remain diligent even if initial attempts to connect are unsuccessful.
- Remember that strong partnerships take time but enable quicker collaboration when new opportunities arise.
- Ensure partners have space to share their perspective and help problem-solve, which creates trust and, in turn, more effective policies.
- Braiding and layering funding sources to support more comprehensive solutions and fill gaps that single streams cannot.
- Stay flexible; if expected funding is unavailable, look for other opportunities. Establish policies that allow for addressing shared risk and protective factors.
- Expand access to data to help policymakers and stakeholders understand the impact of policies.
- Recognize the role of data and non-traditional partners in guiding policy change.
These strategies help jurisdictions become better positioned for success in working across these issues and achieving long-lasting change.
Special thanks to the participating states and ASTHO’s Evaluation and Assessment team.
Reviewed by Alison Maffey, MSW, Vice President, Social and Behavioral Health, and Clint Grant, MS, Director, Healthy Community Design
