From 1999 to 2009, The Northern Manhattan Community Voices Collaborative put Columbia University and its Medical Center in touch with surrounding community organizations and churches to facilitate access to primary care, nutritional improvement, and smoking cessation, and to broker innovative ways to access healthcare and other social services. This unlikely partnership and the relationships it forged reaffirms the wisdom of joining "town and gown" to improve a community's well-being.Staff members of participating organizations have coauthored this volume, which shares the successes, failures, and obstacles of implementing a vast community health program. A representative of Alianza Dominicana, for example, one of the country's largest groups settling new immigrants, speaks to the value of community-based organizations in ridding a neighborhood of crime, facilitating access to health insurance, and navigating the healthcare system. The editors outline the beginnings and infrastructure of the collaboration and the relationship between leaders that fueled positive outcomes. Their portrait demonstrates how grassroots solutions can create productive dialogues that help resolve difficult issues.

List of FiguresList of TablesForeword by Gail ChristopherAcknowledgmentsPart I: Beginnings Introduction: The Northern Manhattan Community Voices Collaborative Allan J. Formicola and Lourdes Hernández-Cordero1. Creating the Collaborative Foundation Allan J. Formicola, Moisés Pérez, and James McIntosh 2. The Collaborative Structure and the Challenges We Faced Sandra HarrisPart II: Promoting Health and Primary Care 3. Community Health Workers: A Successful Strategy for Restoring the Health of a Community Moisés Pérez, Jacqueline Martínez, and Laura Frye4. Asthma Basics for Children (ABC): Building an Asthma Support System from the Ground Up Sally E. Findley with Gloria Thomas, Rosa Madera-Reese, María Lizardo, Mario Drummonds, and Benjamin Ortiz5. Start Right Coalition: Building on Community Initiatives for Childhood Immunization Promotion Sally E. Findley with Martha Sánchez, Miriam Mejía, Mario Drummonds, and Matilde Irigoyen6. The Legacy Smoking-Cessation Project Cheryl Ragonesi, Martin Ovalles, and Daniel F. SeidmanPart III: Strengthening the Safety Net 7. Salud a Su Alcance (SASA): Health Within Your Reach Anita Lee8. Health Information Tool for Empowerment (HITE): Making Health Care Resources a Mouse Click Away Yisel Alonzo9. HealthGap and the NMCVC's Effort to Cover the Uninsured Harris K. (Ken) Lampert10. Healthy Choices: Mobilizing Community Assets to Combat the Twin Epidemic of Obesity and Diabetes Jacqueline Martínez and Yisel AlonzoPart IV: Providing Dental and Mental Health Care 11. Columbia Community DentCare Program Stephen Marshall, David Albert, and Dennis Mitchell12. Mental Health Policy Paper: Giving Voice to a Neglected Epidemic Lourdes Hernández-Cordero13. The Thelma C. Davidson Adair Medical/Dental Center Allan J. FormicolaPart V: Summing Up and Scaling Up 14. Summing Up Allan J. Formicola and Lourdes Hernández-Cordero15. Scaling Up Lourdes Hernández-Cordero, Susan Sturm, Kathleen Klink, and Allan J. FormicolaEpilogueAcronyms Used in the BookList of ContributorsIndex