1. DATA COLLECTION PHASE

Wayne State University (WSU) kicked off the pilot by putting together a Community Steering Council (CSC) made up of representatives from community-serving organizations working in housing and mental health in Detroit. The CSC supported two activities led by WSU staff: power mapping and asset mapping. Power mapping is a process by which communities can develop an inventory and assessment of power within a context (Human Impact Partners 2022), with the goal of using that information to strategize on how best to work toward change (Nov 2008). The CSC helped create the tools used for the activity and hosted the power mapping sessions with a broad range of housing and mental health organizations.

The power mapping sessions also informed an asset mapping process led by WSU that identified local people, organizations, and resources to understand what assets exist and what may be needed to support community change. The CSC provided input on the resources identified. These activities produced extensive qualitative data and a database of resources for later analysis.

The U-M team also worked to identify existing local housing and mental health data and potential data gaps that need to be addressed to better support local change.

CDC provided support in identifying and integrating data from a wide range of sources. For example, the team worked to:

• Conduct fund mapping of existing CDC funding in Michigan used to support health equity- and SDOH-related projects using information from CDC’s Office of Financial Resources and grants.gov
• Conduct an ecological analysis of census tract-level housing factors (including structural drivers) associated with outcomes, like mental health and childhood asthma hospitalizations 
• Conduct legal epidemiology policy analyses of key housing and mental health topics, including COVID-19 evictions and mental health parity laws 
• Create a health economics tool to investigate the costs and benefits of housing remediation on health outcomes, like asthma 

3. COMMUNITY FEEDBACK PHASE

Participants were invited from multiple sectors and included community-based organizations, academic institutions, and public health departments.

The goals of this convening were to share project data and products for feedback on their validity and utility and to serve as an opportunity to network across often-siloed organizations in the housing and mental health fields.

After the convening, feedback on project materials and resources was requested from CSC members and other organizations. IP3 also established a community feedback loop using the project website to integrate ongoing community input into the resources available to support action, ensuring that they are useful, accessible, and evolve with the needs of the community.

Explore the full process diagram below: