By: Jenna Wright
Jenna Wright, BSPH, BA, is a second-year, MPH student concentrating in Maternal and Child
Health. She plans to graduate in December 2024. Her interests include childhood health,
childhood obesity prevention, and comprehensive school sexual education. She also loves
walking around New Orleans, pilates, trying new restaurants, and listening to podcasts.
This year, I had the opportunity to attend CityMatCH in Seattle, Washington. I was very
excited because I had never been to Seattle before and had always heard it was a great place
to visit. I was also excited that CityMatCH has a specific maternal and child health focus. I
thoroughly enjoyed listening to a presentation about innovative work being done more at the
state or local level, as that is where I see my career going in the future.
I attended one presentation on how a local public health organization engages community-based organizations within federally funded projects, and I found it very interesting. Federal funding often comes with many requirements for providing updates and results, which can be challenging for community-based organizations. The public health department lets the community-based organizations define their needs, how to measure if progress is being made, and how the health
department can support them in addressing those needs. It was found that with support, the
community-based organization could make a real impact in the communities it serves better
than the public health department could have done on its own. That presentation highlighted
how vital teamwork is to public health, and it is always important to be humble within public
health because even though your organization might be the one with funding, it might not be the
best suited to address the problem. CitMatCH highlighted that public health change starts with
local communities and builds from there.
Along with the conference, I enjoyed exploring Seattle with my classmates outside of
school. We visited the famous sights around Seattle and ate some fantastic food, which is
important to a foodie like me. Overall. CitMatCH was a great experience to learn more about the
field of maternal and child health and explore a new city with friends.
