title: Building effective partnerships to improve birth outcomes by reducing obesity: The B'more Fit for healthy babies coalition of Baltimore.
abstract: Obesity affects a large percentage of Baltimore City's population with repercussions on maternal health and birth outcomes. Approaches to ameliorate its impact must be comprehensive and include stakeholder involvement at all levels of influence including policy makers, service providers, and community residents. In this article, we examine the evolution of the B'more Fit for Healthy Babies Coalition in Baltimore, Maryland, with a specific focus on how the public health alliance was formed, the strategies employed, and how partners continually evaluated themselves. This study offers the opportunity to understand the extent and complexity undergirding the collaborative processes of community coalitions as they strive to find innovative solutions to major public health concerns.
authors.affiliation: Family League of Baltimore, 2305 North Charles Street, Suite 200, Baltimore, MD 21218, United States. Electronic address: rtruiett@familyleague.org.
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Truiett-Theodorson
authors.affiliation: Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Baltimore City Health Department, 1001 E. Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD 21202, United States. Electronic address: Stacey.Tuck@baltimorecity.gov.
authors.forename: Stacey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tuck
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Health, Behavior and Society, 624 North Broadway Street, 743 Hampton House, Baltimore, MD 21205, United States. Electronic address: jbowie@jhsph.edu.
authors.forename: Janice V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Bowie
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Communication Programs, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, MD 21202, United States. Electronic address: asummer5@jhu.edu.
authors.forename: Amber C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Summers
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Honors College, 216L Albin O. Kuhn Library, Baltimore, MD 21250, United States. Electronic address: jodik@umbc.edu.
authors.forename: Jodi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kelber-Kaye
mesh_terms: D015142:Baltimore; D004032:Diet; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006291:Health Policy; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011634:Public Health; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D066262:Social Norms; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D016387:Women's Health
keywords: Coalition building and assessment; Gender-based analysis; Infant mortality; Obesity