LaGRANGE — District 4 Public Health has been awarded $15,000 to support its progress in meeting the requirements of the Public Health Accreditation Board, the only voluntary national accreditation program for public health departments.

The Troup County Health Department is one of 23 local health departments from 20 states and three health departments from U.S. territories/freely associated states to receive this funding through the Accreditation Support Initiative. A total of 104 local health departments, ranging from rural to urban, applied for funding.

Now in its fifth year, the ASI was created in 2011 to promote national accreditation readiness among a greater number of local health departments and support their varying needs to reach accreditation. Funding for the ASI is provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention office for state, tribal, local, and territorial support and administered by the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

District 4 received funding under the general category of community engagement in the mobilizing for action through planning and partnerships, or MAPP, process utilizing four assessment tools.

The department will use the award for phase 3 accreditation activities including completion of community themes and strengths assessment, forces of change analysis, 10 essentials of public health survey and community health status assessment.