Background:
CityMatCH and the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs have formed a Women's Health Partnership to promote state and local MCH roles to improve women's health before and between pregnancies. Initial efforts focus on the importance of healthy weight as a component of preconception health. An Action Learning Collaborative (ALC) convened in October 2006 with eight state/local teams selected via a competitive application process (LA County/California; Sonoma County/California; Duval/Leon/Orange Counties/Florida; Boston & MA; Minneapolis/Minnesota; Douglas County/Nebraska; Maricopa County/Arizona; Salt Lake Valley/Utah).

Objectives:
ALC objectives include: strengthen multi-disciplinary partnerships within each team, implement evidence-based strategies for maintaining a healthy weight to improve the health of mothers and infants, and increase capacity at the local, state and national level to promote healthy weight as a component of women's reproductive health.

Methods:
Strategies of the ALC include: 1) face-to-face national meetings for learning, networking, and technical assistance; 2) monthly conference calls; 3) tailored materials and information that assists teams in promoting healthy weight in women of reproductive age; and, 4) mechanisms for teams to give and get assistance from other teams and national experts.

Results:
Each team has established essential partnerships between the state and local levels and across disciplines (i.e. MCH, chronic disease, nutrition and physical activity). During the planning phase, each team identified initial strategies, such as conducting a nutrition assessment of the community, developing a training module for health care providers and expanding a preconception health pilot to include a healthy weight component. The collaborative is currently working on the common needs of developing a focus group discussion guide to explore beliefs around weight and health among women of reproductive age, and on how to frame the message of weight and reproductive health for a variety of audiences (e.g. women, health care providers, public health professionals, policy makers, etc.).

Conclusion and implications for practice:
Integrating the CDC preconception health recommendations into public health practice requires a multi-disciplinary approach, and is benefited by engaging participants from both the state and local levels.