The Missouri experience in providing tools and resources to promote community assessment.

The Missouri Department of Health (MDOH) has dedicated staff that provides technical assistance to communities that are conducting assessments and intervention strategies to meet community health needs. The MDOH developed a web site that is designed to make health data easily available at the local level. The Missouri Hospital Association partners in the process by making funds available to communities that have proposed interventions in response to their community assessment. This article describes this public/private relationship and some of the state and local experiences.