Grant: Catalyst Grant: Partnering for Impact - IPPH - Public Health Systems

Building Stronger Communities for Better Health in Québec The health of Canadians has faced serious challenges since COVID-19, including shorter life expectancy, more overdose deaths, rising youth self-harm, disrupted vaccinations, and growing food insecurity. These problems are made worse by new diseases, economic instability, misinformation, and climate-related stress. To protect health and well-being, public health must work more closely with communities and focus on building resilience-the ability of communities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies and crises. This project aims to create a new public health organization in Québec called PHARE-QC (Public Health Analysis & Resilience Ecosystem - Quebec Community Psychosocial Monitoring). It will help public health teams, researchers, and community members work together to monitor local needs and take quick, informed action. PHARE-QC will support Québec's goal to reduce preventable diseases and early deaths linked to social inequalities by 2035. We will: 1.Build agreement on the key parts of PHARE-QC, such as community networks, training, and data tools. 2.Develop a set of indicators to measure community resilience-like equity, social connection, emergency readiness, and sustainability-and include them in a provincial dashboard. To do this, we will review existing research and learn from a successful pilot project in Chaudière-Appalaches. Then, we will bring together community members and public health professionals to reach consensus through surveys and workshops. Their input will shape PHARE-QC's design and ensure it reflects real-world needs. Finally, we will share the results with citizens, health teams, and decision makers through briefings, webinars, and public forums. With support from key provincial partners, PHARE-QC will become a model for how public health can better respond to future emergencies by working hand-in-hand with communities.