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The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged public health practitioners and clinicians at multiple levels to intentionally consider the impact of social isolation on health outcomes. Many community-based programmes design interventions to address tangible challenges within the social determinants of health, such as asset insecurity or food insecurity, to address health inequities. The growing need to address social isolation within marginalised communities also requires organisations to collaborate and create community partnerships that strengthen their own social integration within the community. The present research reports on the results of a Social Network Analysis (SNA) of community programmes within three southern U.S. cities and their local collaborations to address social isolation. After interviewing representatives of 46 community organisations, it was found that social service organisations that also offer public health services play a central role in community efforts to improve social isolation. The participating organisations primarily collaborate through referrals and information sharing, and report inadequate resources. With a growing recognition that social services and supports play a considerable role in addressing health inequities, this study provides evidence of opportunities for interorganisational collaboration to promote individual and community health.

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OBJECTIVES: To explore how and what programs or projects address asset security at the community level as a social determinant of health. DATA SOURCES: To conduct a scoping review following Preferred Reporting Items for Systemic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines, the databases searched included CINAHL, EconLit, Embase, Pubmed/Medline, and the Sociological Collection of EBSCOhost. REVIEW METHODS: Keywords used for article identification were ("asset" AND "community") OR ("asset security" AND "community"). Studies were included if published between 1990 and 2019, written in English, and published in a peer-review journal. Reference lists of selected articles were also reviewed for additional articles. Two authors reviewed titles and abstracts separately, then reviewed full-texts for sample selection. RESULTS: After identifying 2,585 articles, researchers refined the final sample to 28 articles. Programs or projects within the sample focused on direct financial interventions or indirect interventions. Direct interventions included financial programs, such as Individual Development Accounts, or ownership opportunities, such as cooperatives or microenterprises. Indirect interventions included those focused on the built environment, such as asset mapping to identify a community's resources, or focused on education, such as those for social workers. CONCLUSIONS: Financial programs, ownership opportunities, assessments of the built environment, and targeted education complement one another to influence a community's assets from many angles. Income inequality has evolved from repeated institutionalized practices that inadvertently reinforce that inequality. Published literature emphasizes the local nature of needs and challenges, culturally responsive efforts, and that observing an impact often requires longitudinal efforts.

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OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to pilot a quantitative instrument to measure aspects of community leadership within an assessment framework. DESIGN: The instrument includes 14 Likert-type questions asking residents how they perceive leaders within 5 sectors: Louisville Metro Council/Mayor's Office, the faith community, education, business, and the civic sector. SETTING: Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky, has a population of about 743 000 residents. Respondents were asked to examine leadership within West Louisville, an economically deprived area of the city made up of 9 contiguous neighborhoods. This area is predominantly African American (78% compared with 22% in Louisville Metro), with an overall poverty rate of 43% (compared with 18% in Louisville Metro), and unemployment rate of 23% (compared with 8% in Louisville Metro). Residents of West Louisville are looking to leadership to address many of the inequities. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-seven participants representing 7 community sectors completed the survey, of whom 90% work in West Louisville. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The instrument measured local perceptions of leadership strength, effectiveness, trust, communication, community building, and leadership development. RESULTS: The majority of respondents agree that strong leadership exists across the 5 sectors, with variation regarding perceptions of the quality of that leadership. City leadership within the Mayor's Office and Metro Council is largely viewed positively, while the growing tensions within the education sector were reflected in the survey results. CONCLUSION: The perception of community leadership is important to understanding local community capacity to improve health and also inclusivity of community voice in the assessment and community improvement processes. Results from such assessments can offer useful information for strengthening community capacity and sustaining relationships needed to enact progressive and equitable solutions to address local issues. Leaders in a variety of settings can utilize this instrument to improve their community as well as their practical approaches towards leadership and equity.

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