Building partnerships with the community: Lessons from the Camden Health Improvement Learning Collaborative

This case study describes the Camden City Health Improvement Learning Colla borative (the Collaborative), a community care network initiative formed in 1993. The organization is composed of representatives from local healthcar e providers, public agencies, religious organizations, and neighborhoods. T he major goal of this initiative is to improve the health status of the com munity by involving and empowering residents in the solution of their needs . The Collaborative represents a grassroots strategic model of community in clusion in the formulation of goals and programs to improve community healt h status. The case study describes the dynamics of the Collaborative by exa mining the following: historical development; political, institutional, and social context; planning process; organization and structure; and performa nce evaluation. The article concludes with a discussion of the strategic an d operational lessons learned from the Collaborative.