Introduction
Marathon County Pulse is an online information resource for community members, organizations, and policy makers to learn about the health and community conditions of Marathon County. It provides balanced information, including social and economic data, local health information, promising best practices, and how to get involved in community initiatives.
These editorial guidelines describe the site’s governing body, how content is selected and managed, and major features of the site.
Governing Body
Marathon County sets website policies and makes decisions about the content of the website.
Advertising Policy
No advertising is permitted on this website and none of its content represents a political endorsement by Marathon County or any of its sponsors.
Community Indicator Data
The Healthy Communities Institute indicator system provides easy access to information on the health and community conditions of Marathon County. The purpose of the system is to inform and facilitate positive change in our communities in making informed decisions around community health by making relevant data easy to display, search, compare and see change over time.
Core indicator data found on this site are collected and reported by state and federal sources. The Healthy Communities Institute provides the core site content and updates indicators soon after they are updated by their respective data sources. The frequency and timing of the updates varies with the source. Healthy Communities Institute utilizes the following criteria in selecting core indicator data.
- Validated methodology for data collection and analysis
- Publicly available through known and respected sources
- Regular, scheduled publication of findings
- Focus on data values for small geographic areas, such as counties and zip codes that are available for all county-level locations in the state or in the U.S
Each indicator page includes a definition of the indicator, a summary of the data value, and a link to the data source. The value for each indicator is shown along with comparisons that provide context for the information. The comparisons show how each value compares to those in other geographic areas (the distinct green-yellow-red gauge), how the value compares to a prior period (green or red up and down arrows), and how we compare to a national or state average (blue/white or green-red gradation gauge). In addition, the website provides comparisons to Healthy People 2020 objectives, when available.
Promising Practices
The purpose of the Promising Practices database is to inform professionals, policy makers, community members on documented approaches to improving community health and quality of life. The ultimate goal is to support the systematic adoption, implementation, and evaluation of successful programs, practices, and policy changes. This database contains more than 2,000 promising practices, programs, and interventions and is a national resource created and maintained by the Healthy Communities Institute. The sources include health departments, federal agencies, universities, and community organizations (not individuals without an organizational affiliation). Healthy Communities Institute ranks the practices as either “evidence-based,” “effective,” or “good ideas.”
Read more about the ranking methodology.
Local communities have the opportunity to submit their own promising practices. The interventions suggested for inclusion must be community-focused and related to local community health and well-being and must meet the Healthy Communities Institute standards noted above (evidence-based, effective, or a good idea).
Read more about guidelines for submitting a promising practice.
Funding Opportunities
Healthy Communities Institute provides a list of national funding opportunities to help you identify funding sources to improve the health of your community. Funding opportunities are found under the Resource Library. The list is organized topically and include both government and foundation funding opportunities. Funding opportunities are added to the list on a regular basis and automatically removed when they expire.