HHS Homework and Resources

Review the resources and tackle the assignments below before joining your class in Charlotte in March.  Everything in the “Homework” section is required. Many additional resources are also included below for you to explore before or after session.

HHS Session Homework – Required

Additional video excerpt possibly to come from Zac (portion of hour-long PBS doc)

Watch These Short Videos 

• What Is Health Equity?
• How Do Social Determinants of Health Affect Public Health?
• Healthcare System Overview

Healthy Communities Profiles – Review at least one North Carolina county and familiarize yourself with how the county scores on the 21 social determinants of health. Choose a county where you live or work or a county you’d just like to know more about. Choose more than one county, if you’d like. What findings surprise you? Which ones align with your expectations?

America’s Health Rankings – Dip into the website to be familiar with what’s available.

HHS Session Resources–Recommended

The following links are resources recommended by session presenters, planning committee members, and past LNC speakers. Exploring those that interest you will enrich your experience both during and after the March Health and Human Services Session. The required pieces from above are also included in their appropriate categories below.

Healthcare Costs, Data, and Report Cards

• County Health Rankings and Roadmaps–North Carolina
• NC DHHS North Carolina Health Atlas
• The Economic Contributions of North Carolina’s Health Systems and Hospitals
• Roadmap of Need–Public School Forum
• 2025 March Of Dimes Report Card For North Carolina | PeriStats | March of Dimes
• America’s Health Rankings
  • America’s Health Rankings: Annual Report–NC
  • America’s Health Rankings: 2025 Health of Women and Children – includes link to state summaries  
  • America’s Health Rankings: 2025 Senior Report – includes link to state summaries

Poverty, Equity, Economic Mobility, and Health

• Upward Mobility – FORCLT
• American Public Health Association
• “The Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940,” by Raj Chetty et. al.
• Crisis Assistance Ministry
• SPENT – Virtual Poverty Simulation (Created by Urban Ministries in Durham, NC)
• The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality by Thomas M. Shapiro
• Unidos US: Housing and Financial Empowerment
• Opportunity Insights: The Opportunity Atlas
• The North Carolina Rural Center
• The Economic Mobility Project – The Pew Charitable Trusts
• Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust
• Conetoe Family Life Center
• Freedom Communities
• Benefits Calculator for Buncombe County
• Benefits Cliff Community Lab
• Goodwill Opportunity Campus
  • Goodwill Benefits Cliff Community Lab Project

State and Community Resources

• NC Department of Health and Human Services
• Rural Health Information Hub–North Carolina
• NC Department of Military and Veterans Affairs
• North Carolina Community Action Association
• NC State Health Improvement Plan
• North Carolina Institute of Medicine (NCIOM)
  • NCIOM Blog
  • NCIOM Health Care Primers
  • Healthy North Carolina 2030
  • “Turning the Curve: Halfway to Healthy North Carolina 2030” NC Medical Journal
  • “Eat, Play, Move & Stay: Health and the Physical Environment in North Carolina” NC Medical Journal
• For The Struggle
• Senior TLC – Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE)

Maternal and Child Health

• March of Dimes State Summary for North Carolina
• North Carolina Women’s Demographic Data – Kaiser Family Foundation
• “How Poverty and Racism ‘Weather’ the Body, Accelerating Aging and Disease,” NPR Fresh Air, March 28, 2023
• NC Maternal Mental Health Matters

Behavioral Health, Substance Use, and Violence Prevention

• Mental Health First Aid
• “Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)”, report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• 2025 State of Mental Health in America Report
• 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
• NC Care 360: A New Tool for a Healthier North Carolina
• Transforming NC’s Behavioral Health System – NC DHHS Report
• El Futoro
  • “Immigrant Mental Health” – NCIOM and El Futuro

Social Determinants of Health (SDoH)

• Food and Nutrition Services Resource Page from NC DHHS
• Feeding the Carolinas–includes links to 10 North Carolina Food Banks
• Virtual Food Drives–includes resources for starting or contributing to a virtual food drive to support your local food bank
• North Carolina Social Determinants of Health by Regions

Aging and End-of-Life Resources

• AARP “Prepare to Care” Family Caregiving Guides
• AARP: Printable Advance Directives
• NC Secretary of State’s Office: Advance Healthcare Directives and North Carolina Registry
• NC Secretary of State’s Office: Advance Healthcare Forms
• NC NAMI: Psychiatric Advance Directives

Innovation

• The Pearl District
• IRCAD North America

Session Follow-Up Materials

For completion AFTER the HHS Session 

• HHS Session Evaluation–Due March 20 [[survey will be live on March 12]]
• April Environment Session Attendance Survey–Due March 20 [[survey will be live on March 12]]
• HHS Session Learning Team Calls: Prompts and Recording Form–Due April 8 [[survey will be live on March 12]]
  • Hold your Learning Team calls and have your call recorder submit call notes (optional) through the form linked above by April 8
• Planning Committee Preferences Survey–Due April 17 [[survey will be live on February 13]]
  • Detailed position descriptions are available HERE for reference
• Consider nominating a classmate for the Stanley Frank Class Award.  Nominations are due by April 17.
• Consider participating in the Coaching Opportunity
  • Info session February 24, 4:30 – 5:15 pm (registration form on page linked above)   
  • Request a coach by April 10 (sign-up form on page linked above)