Since its inception, CORE Group has hosted two major in-person gatherings each year –traditionally a two-day meeting in the fall and a week-long meeting in the spring.

As CORE Group evolved beyond its original purpose of convening NGO grantees of USAID’s Child Survival and Health Grants Program, the meetings expanded as well,  attracting universities, private sector, donors, UN, civil society, etc.

From the early 2000s to the early 2010s, the average number of attendees doubled, and in 2013, we renamed the “Meetings” to “Global Health Practitioner Conferences” to reflect their growing caliber.

“The conversations were very thought provoking and invoked deep discussion and reflection. The [Spring 2014] conference provided a unique platform for global health practitioners to learn from each other and share experiences in a unique way. I found the conference to be excellent, and I’m already looking forward to the fall conference!” – Elizabeth Romanoff Silva, USAID

The conferences provide state-of-the-art global health information, engage our International Community Health Network in dialogue to share innovations and move key issues forward, develop new relationships and partnerships through networking, build member skills, and develop working group plans and activities.

“This is my first CORE Goup conference [Spring 2016], and what’s been amazing is to feel such a sense of camaraderie with people that are doing really important work all across the globe, and to have a sense that there’s a team of us working toward the same outcomes for kids.” – Maureen Dykinga, SPOON Foundation

Below is a list of all the meetings and conferences in our records, including links to reports for all in the last several years.

• Spring 2001 | Millwood, VA: “Strengthening through Collaboration”
• Fall 2001 | Washington, DC
• Spring 2002 | Millwood, VA: “CORE Growth and Opportunities”
• Fall 2002 | Washington, DC
• Spring 2003 | Portland, OR: “APPLE CORE: Advancing and Promoting Partnerships and Leadership Everywhere”
• Fall 2003 | Washington, DC: “Training in Technical Communication Skills”
• Spring 2004 | Baltimore, MD: “Enhancing Maternal and Child Health Impact at the Country Level”
• Fall 2004 | Washington, DC
• Spring 2005 | West Point, NY: “Scaling Up”
• Fall 2005 | Washington, DC: “Health Systems Strengthening from the Community Up”
• Spring 2006, Easton, MD: “The Faces and Facets of Quality”
• Fall 2006 | Washington, DC
• Spring 2007 | Easton, MD: “Innovation for Health”
• Fall 2007 | Washington, DC
• Spring 2008 | Atlanta, GA: “Research”
• Fall 2008 | Washington, DC
• Spring 2009 | Annapolis, MD: “Communities: Keystone for Health Systems Strengthening”
• Fall 2009 | Washington, DC: “Community Health: Person-Centered Care“
• Spring 2010 | Baltimore, MD: “Getting to the Heart of the Matter: Communities and Health Systems Strengthening“
• Fall 2010 | Washington, DC: “Inspiration, Integration, Impact“
• Spring 2011 | Baltimore, MD: “Equity in Health: Ensuring Access, Increasing Use“
• Fall 2011 | Washington, DC: “Windows of Opportunity for Health and Well-Being“
• Spring 2012 | Wilmington, DE: “Demystifying & Using Data for Community Health Impact“
• Fall 2012 | Washington, DC: “Call to End Preventable Child Deaths: The INGO Response“
• Spring 2013 | Baltimore, MD: “Capacity Strengthening for Global Health: Partnerships, Accountability, Integration, Learning (PAIL)“
• Fall 2013 | Washington, DC: “Social Accountability, Health Equity and Empowerment“
• Spring 2014 | Silver Spring, MD: “Health for All Starts in the Community“
• Fall 2014 | Washington, DC: “Strengthening Community Health Systems through CHWs and mHealth“
• Spring 2015 | Alexandria, VA: “Advancing Community Health across the Continuum of Care“
• Fall 2015 | Washington, DC: “Trending Topics in Community Health“
• Spring 2016 | Portland, OR: “Achieving Health for All through Multi-dimensional Approaches“
• Fall 2016 | Washington, DC: “Community Health Transitions: Leading for Impact“
• Spring 2017 | Washington, DC: “Integrated Approaches: The SBC Key to Community Health“
• Fall 2017 | Baltimore, MD: “Collaborating for Healthy Communities: Results, Realities, and Opportunities“

Working Groups are the heart and soul of CORE Group’s International Community Health Network. As the main voluntary mechanism to provide leadership within the network, they implement activities relevant to CORE Group Members.

Read this month’s milestone post to learn more about the purpose and accomplishments of our Working Groups over the last 20 years!

WORKING GROUPS DEFINED

Working Groups are teams of individuals from multiple organizations furthering the development and understanding of a technical or cross-cutting topic. The groups are self-organizing, self-governing, and adaptive entities that transcend organizational boundaries.

Collectively generating ideas and tackling issues at the periphery of the evidence base, Working Groups push the field of community health forward to demonstrate health impact on a meaningful scale.

You can read more about our current Working Groups on the CORE Group website.

EVOLUTION AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Working Groups have evolved and changed over the years based on Member needs and global priorities, but one constant has been the development of many state-of-the-art tools and resources. Check out the timeline below to learn more!

THE VALUE OF WORKING GROUPS

Working Groups connect community health experts and professionals around the world, breaking down organizational barriers to avoid duplication of effort and encourage collaborative response.

Hear more from a couple Working Group co-chairs:

Our Working Groups are highly engaged and provide many opportunities for participants to grow their professional connections, from frequent listserv communications to Working Group calls, webinars, and in-person meetings at CORE Group Conferences. CORE Group Members also have the opportunity to lead Working Groups as co-chairs.

It’s a really fun opportunity to get together a group of dynamic individuals coming from a wide range of organizations that are working to address malnutrition in all its forms. It’s just a really fun opportunity to shepherd this group of individuals toward achieving something together

Jennifer Burns, CRS, Nutrition Working Group Co-Chair 

Want to get involved in one of our Working Groups? Join Working Group listservs here, and register for our Spring 2017 Global Health Practitioner Conference on April 20 – 21, 2017 where you can meet in person with Working Groups to learn more about them and contribute to current projects.

CORE Group launched in 1997 as a membership organization, and while our membership has evolved over the years, it has remained central to our mission.

MEMBERSHIP TIMELINE

Originally, all NGOs receiving Child Survival and Health Grants Program (CSHGP) grants automatically became members.

Then in 2003, CORE Group established annual membership fees and a membership process. A CSHGP grant was no longer an automatic assurance of membership, and membership opened up to any international NGO with a US office and a commitment to community-based maternal and child health, among other criteria. All membership applicants started going through an approval process by the Board and Membership.

In 2011, the Associate and Individual Associate Membership levels were introduced, opening CORE Group’s membership even further to for-profit organizations, universities, foundations, and consultants or other individuals.

Learn more about the history of CORE Group Membership and why so many organizations renew their membership year after year:

MEMBERSHIP TODAY

Over the years we have prioritized quality over quantity to preserve the social capital necessary for cross-organizational sharing and collaboration, adding just a few members per year on average.

We have now grown to 100+ Members, Associates, and Individual Associates, and our diverse membership includes small, medium and large organizations; secular and faith-based organizations; organizations funded by government and organizations funded through private sources; relief-oriented health organizations seeking more involvement in development and transitional settings; university health departments; foundations; and so much more. 

We are so proud of our members’ many accomplishments that we highlight them in a quarterly Member Highlights eNewsletter. Take a look!

Learn more about CORE Group membership here.

We conducted a detailed Membership Survey at the end of 2016, and we will be sharing the results with the community soon. Here is a sneak peak of some of the responses about membership benefits:

“CORE Group is an essential platform to share and disseminate learning as well as convene like-minded organizations and stakeholders to advance dialogue and best practices. There is a sense of responsibility to share program evidence and contribute to this community of practice and to learn from other practitioners.”

“I feel that the openness of CORE is a huge asset. There has never been a time when I felt that I could not ask for support from CORE’s membership, and it was always provided!”

Since 2001, CORE Group has presented the annual Dory Storms Child Survival Recognition Award to a person or persons who demonstrate courage, leadership, and commitment to helping non-governmental organizations have an impact on and effectively implement programs that end child deaths.

The award is named after Dr. Storms, whose leadership of the USAID-funded Child Survival Support Program led to the creation of CORE Group. (Find out more about the beginning of CORE Group in last month’s milestone post.)

Learn more about the award from Dr. Storms herself in this video:

See all the award winners below, and read more about each one and their remarkable accomplishments here.