Printable version of the FAQFrequently Asked Questions
What are Public Health Incubators?
What is the purpose of Incubators?
How does the Incubators program work?
What kind of projects are Incubators doing?
Who participates in Incubators?
Who coordinates Incubator activities?
What is the NCIPH role in Incubators?
How can my health department join an Incubator?
Can I participate in an Incubator project?
What have Incubators accomplished?
What are Public Health Incubators?
Public Health Incubators are voluntary teams of local public health agencies, leveraging resources to promote regional collaboration and accomplish shared public health goals. Incubator priorities, projects, and policies are chosen from the bottom up by the incubator participants.
What is the purpose of Incubators?
- To supplement the limited public health resources of rural, tier-one counties
- To identify regional public health priorities and introduce related, evidence-based interventions
- To introduce, evaluate, and where appropriate, disseminate innovative public health practices
The name is borrowed from the “incubator” business concept - a new organization to incubate new products and services. A public health incubator is a new, collaborative vehicle for the delivery of public health in NC. Incubator projects introduce new ways of doing business and supplement resources for under-resourced local health departments.
How does the Incubators program work?
Individual Incubator Partnerships, made up of local health department directors across North Carolina, meet on a regular basis to determine regional priorities, share ideas, leverage resources, and create applicable solutions to common public health challenges.
A steering committee made up of local health directors provides oversight to the statewide program with assistance from staff at the NCIPH. Together they direct policies, procedures, and accountability for Incubator projects, programs and regions.
Incubator Partnerships hold annual strategic planning sessions where they discuss and determine regional priorities and identify related projects. Projects are written up in a proposal format, and projects for all Partnerships are reviewed by the Project Selection Committee, a subcommittee of the Incubator Collaboratives Steering Committee.
What kinds of projects are Incubators doing?
Example capacity building projects
- Identifying clinic efficiencies
- Managing dental risk
- Improving billing practices
- Measuring fiscal performance
- Preparing for accreditation
- Automating business processes
Example public health interventions
- Addressing disparities in disease incidence (HIV, Cancer, Diabetes)
- Defining local public health roles in quality of life interventions for the aging
- Faith-based interventions for chronic illnesses
- Tobacco reduction and cessation
Who participates in Incubators?
- Local health directors are the primary participants of Incubators. They serve on regional partnership boards and provide an effective collaborative leadership model.
- Staff from local health departments work together on coordinated workgroups and task forces to carry out Incubator project missions, share resources, and strive to create best practices.
- Project staff manage and implement incubator projects. They are typically funded by grants and contracts.
Who coordinates Incubator activities?
- Project Coordinators: Each partnership now has some staff support to assist the health directors in carrying out projects and promoting effective communication.
- North Carolina Institute for Public Health: Provides coordination and oversight of the overall incubator program and provides support and guidance to project coordinators.
- NC Division of Public Health (NCDPH): Prevents duplication of state provided services and provides state level perspective on Incubator activities and projects.
What is the NCIPH role in Incubators?
- Provides administrative oversight and guidance for the Incubators program (e.g. reporting, steering committee, project selections, financial management)
- Coordinates informational strategies - promotional materials, websites, conferences
- Supports sustained Incubator collaboration with evaluations, training, strategic planning and team-building activities
- Provides logistical support for selected partnership related conferences and meetings
- Provides selected trainings
- Provides project management for selected Incubator projects
- Provides transitional support for Partnership changes in leadership
- “Fills in the Gaps”, anticipating Incubator needs to move projects and activities forward and to improve the overall functioning and effectiveness of incubators
How can my health department join an Incubator?
There are currently six Incubator Partnerships across 81 counties. Contact the NC Institute for Public Health to answer to any questions you may have and to discuss your options.
Can I participate in an Incubator project?
If you are interested in any particular project please contact the North Carolina Institute for Public Health. All Incubator projects and priorities are listed on this site under each partnership.
- The North Carolina Public Health Incubator Collaboratives Program receives core funding from the North Carolina legislature with $950,000 in recurring funds.
- The NC Division of Public Health contracts with the NCIPH to coordinate the program.
- The six partnerships have secured over $14 million in grants and contracts to support their projects.
What have Incubators accomplished?
- The Incubator Program has grown from one partnership in 19 counties (the pioneering NE NC Partnership for Public Health) to six partnerships across 81 counties.
- Currently, Partnerships are engaged in more than 30 projects statewide.
- The Partnerships have raised more than $14 million in grant and contract dollars for local public health.