Multi-Stakeholder Strategic Planning

THE CLIENT

The Center for Health Care Strategies partners with those who work in and with Medicaid to promote innovations in health care delivery where they are needed most.

CHCS helps state and federal agencies, managed care plans, providers, and community-based organizations design and deliver high-quality, cost-effective health care to millions of enrollees.

PROJECT SCOPE

Four family foundations identified an audacious goal for the state of New Jersey: creating a stakeholder-driven (those with lived experience, as well as providers) statewide plan for combating Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) for New Jersey children. With the foundations’ support, we partnered with New Jersey-based Center for Healthcare Strategies to support this goal.

How we moved CHCS and ACE Forward:

  • 1. Diving Deep With Key Stakeholder Interviews

    We designed and ran dozens of empathy interviews with key stakeholders—from classroom educators to individuals running anti-recidivism organizations, to mothers and representatives from the New Jersey Department of Children and Families—which generated insights we looked at alongside CHCS’s extensive research on ACEs.

  • 2. Co-Design and Facilitation of Two Cross-State Labs

    We co-designed and facilitated two cross-state labs with CHCS that brought together dozens of ACEs leaders to listen to one another, share experiences, and co-build the elements of the statewide action plan.

  • 3. Development of the Multi-Stakeholder Strategic Plan

    We synthesized the outputs of the cross-state labs to make recommendations for the content of the Statewide Action Plan.

The Result

Our work led to the development of the Statewide Action Plan, launched in 2020.

“The Group Forward was an integral part of our team, collaborating, co-designing and teaching us how best to engage our project participants along the way. As a result of their expertise, we delivered the state’s first action plan to address and prevent adverse childhood experiences, which was informed and centered around the perspectives and priorities of individuals across the state. The expertise TGF brings extends far beyond facilitating groups, and their commitment to getting to know the people they are working with pays dividends in the quality of the deliverable. My initial collaboration with TGF in 2019 has lead to several subsequent partnerships and continues to this day. Whenever anyone mentions needing skilled facilitators or I see an opportunity to embed human centered design in the approach to a project, I recommend TGF without hesitation.”

- Kamala Allen, Senior Vice President of Programs + Strategic Planning, CHCS