The Greater Flint Community

Located 65 miles northwest of Detroit, Michigan, the city of Flint has about 140,000 residents. It is the seat of Genesee County-which has a population of 430,000- and the birthplace of General Motors (GM) in 1908.

Today, the county is still heavily influenced by GM and the United Auto Workers (UAW). Once, GM employed 76,900 individuals in Genesee County; today, that number is about 15,000.

In 1992, several community leaders formed the Greater Flint Health Coalition to examine the issues affecting Genesee County's health status. Over time, the coalition influenced legislation to restrict smoking in public places; created a task force which, through education, helped reduce the incidence of Caesarean births where normal delivery was most appropriate; and worked to improve diabetes awareness.

Two years later, GM and the UAW began evaluating their efforts to influence health and maximize the value of health care delivered in communities where they do business. Through this venture, known as the Community Health Care Initiatives, they concluded that "locally focused efforts" could yield the best results.

In 1996, UAW/GM approached the Greater Flint Health Coalition to work in partnership to achieve their mutual goals. Greater Flint had been chosen-along with Anderson, Indiana and Warren, Ohio-for the investment of energies and resources to improve health status and better understand health care delivery issues.

The effort has been greatly beneficial. The Greater Flint Health Coalition is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization whose mission is to improve the health status of Genesee County residents and to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of the health care delivery system. It is both a community/institutional partnership and multifaceted collaboration, with a board that is a broad reflection of the community's leadership-including government, hospitals, labor, business, insurers, physicians, education, consumers and the faith-based community.

"Matching our community's needs, the Coalition's vision is a healthy Genesee County community practicing healthy lifestyles with access to the best and most cost effective health and medical care."