Garrett County Communities Step Up in Maryland’s Fight Against Poverty

By Christen Coddington, Coordinator of Special Programs

Thanks to an award from Garrett County’s Local Management Board, the Population Health, Innovation, and Informatics Unit within the Garrett County Health Department was tasked with helping four communities, identified through Governor Moore’s ENOUGH Initiative, to develop strategies to improve outcomes.

ENOUGH stands for Engaging Neighborhoods, Organizations, Unions, Governments, and Households Act. The initiative aims to address the root causes of poverty in Maryland by tackling inequities and collaborating with affected communities to develop local solutions. The ultimate goal of ENOUGH is to end childhood poverty and increase economic mobility in Maryland.

To begin advancing this goal, the Population Health, Innovation, and Informatics Unit provided technical assistance to each community. In August and September, the Unit hosted a series of open community discussions in the four towns identified by ENOUGH: Bloomington, Kitzmiller, Grantsville, and Accident.

By applying evidence-based practices, skilled facilitation, data, and trust-building, the Unit has helped communities create both long-term and short-term visions for their towns. This technical assistance supports the development of action steps toward achieving each community’s vision of improved well-being. Central to this work is empowering community champions and ensuring their voices are unified and heard.

One town representative noted, “Our kids, they are the future.” Many of the strategies chosen by the towns reflect this legacy mindset. Another added, “We want Kitzmiller to be a memorable spot to visit when people come to Garrett County.”

“This is rural public health innovation in action,” said Shelley Argabrite, MA, Director of Population Health, Innovation, and Informatics, and Garrett County Health Strategist. “It begins with the community, sharing a meal and getting to know their passions and where they want to focus their energy. Then, utilizing frameworks like Results-Based Accountability, we create strategies together that bring their vision to life by empowering local champions. Our unit leverages every single angle of funding that is or could be available to keep the fire lit. It’s an honor to be a part of the alignment and strategy behind community improvement. It’s truly inspiring seeing it all come together, and accomplishing it with such a talented team makes it even better!” 

Special thanks to the staff from Garrett County Public Schools, particularly those working within our identified Community Schools, for being active and engaged partners during many of the sessions. We look forward to future collaborations with agency partners.

Although no direct ENOUGH grant funding was awarded to the towns at this time, progress continues. Based on the technical assistance provided by the Population Health, Innovation, and Informatics Unit, meaningful collaborations have taken shape. The Unit is sustaining this work through competitive grant dollars awarded by CareFirst and through AHEC West’s Healthy Together collective award from the Maryland Health Resources Commission.

Learn more about each community by visiting MyGarrettCounty.com/ENOUGH and join us in working alongside these communities as true collaborators to bring their visions to life.

Cutline: Pictured above, from left to right, are Barb Coleman, David Reckart, Cookie Noble, and Alysha Noble.