Supporting public health through community trust
The Health Communications Initiative (HCI) is a nonpartisan, state-centered model that moves vetted health information through trusted local messengers, supported by ongoing feedback loops and standardized evaluation.
About
The U.S. Health Communications Initiative (HCI) is a nonpartisan, state-centered communications infrastructure built to strengthen public trust through more transparent, responsive, and consistent public health communications. Coordinated by the public health nonprofit PGP, the HCI works in parallel to state health departments by organizing statewide networks of community-based organizations (CBOs) that deliver state-priority health communications to the communities they already serve.
States set priorities and identify the communities most impacted using their epidemiologic data. States then connect PGP to the CBO partners they already trust in those communities. PGP onboards those CBOs into a statewide network with routine feedback loops, regular coordination, multilingual resources, and a shared evaluation protocol.
Communications are white labeled and unbranded, enabling partners to use them without attribution while remaining aligned to state priorities. The HCI tracks what communications are requested, what is used, partner feedback on community response, and provides routine reporting back to state partners.
Our partners
A model that strengthens state capacity
How the HCI works in each state:
- States define public health priorities.
- States identify priority communities using state epidemiologic data.
- States connect PGP to CBO partners in those communities.
- PGP onboards CBOs and establishes routine coordination and feedback loops.
- PGP delivers multilingual, un-branded, white-labeled communications and tracks requests, use, and response, with regular reporting back to the state and partners.
The HCI is designed in partnership with state government but operates independently, allowing it to:
- Strengthen trust by increasing transparency and routine collaboration between state public health and community partners.
- Build statewide coverage by organizing CBO networks designed for full county coverage.
- Respond quickly to information gaps, guided by real-time media narrative monitoring and community requests.
- Use a standardized evaluation protocol across states to support measurement, shared learning, and continuous improvement.
The HCI is designed to scale nationally while remaining place-based by operating through state-defined priorities, state-identified communities, and community partner feedback loops in every state.
A trusted, scalable solution
State-centered and community-delivered: state priorities reach communities through the messengers they already trust.
Statewide coverage: each participating state builds a CBO network designed for full county coverage.
White-labeled, multilingual communications: ready to share without attribution, built for rapid uptake.
Two-way accountability: structured feedback loops ensure community needs shape what is produced and distributed.
Information-ecosystem responsive: narrative monitoring informs when and how states communicate.
Standardized evaluation across states: comparable reporting that supports learning, improvement, and replication.
Evaluation and accountability
The HCI uses a standardized evaluation protocol across participating states, enabling consistent reporting and shared learning. Evaluation captures network growth and coverage, delivery and engagement with communications, partner utilization, and routine feedback loops that ensure community needs inform what is produced and distributed over time.
Meeting the moment
As states are under increased pressure for health communications, the HCI provides an immediately deployable model that expands state reach into communities through trusted local partners. The initiative is designed to strengthen trust by helping public health show up in a more consistent, transparent, and collaborative way, with routine feedback loops and statewide coordination.
The HCI is designed for national scale through a cohort of states operating a shared model. Each state retains control of priorities and targeting, while the cohort benefits from shared evaluation, shared learning, and faster collective response to emerging information gaps.
Get in touchState Spotlight
The Michigan HCI is designed for statewide coverage through an enrolled network of community partners and follows a standardized protocol designed for replication across states. Michigan publishes annual evaluation reporting as part of the HCI’s shared accountability framework. In Year 1, Michigan enrolled more than 200 community-based organizations, with 100% of the state’s counties represented and reached by the network.
Support for the initiative
The U.S. HCI is supported by grants and organizations committed to timely, accurate, and accessible health information for all communities. These include state governments, foundations, professional associations, payers and providers, large employers, and private funders. If you’re interested in supporting these efforts, contact us using the form below.
Get in touch
Interested in learning more about the initiative or how we can work together? Contact us below.
