HealthStart has partnered with many companies, school districts, and other nonprofits to help improve their reach to their targeted audience. During the summer of 2021, they partnered with The Housing Authority of Austin which allowed them to present their workshops at low-income apartment complexes. This partnership helped remove the barrier of transportation and inaccessibility which allowed them to better reach their targeted audience. Since the workshops were held in their home location, attendance was not constrained due to parental work schedules. This allowed for children who would have otherwise been unable to attend the option to participate in the workshops during the summer. Through this partnership, the Boys and Girls Club of Austin requested a meeting with them to discuss future partnerships based on the word of mouth from the children who attended the workshops and the club. Through this connection, they will not be able to reach children who attend after school events and clubs hosted by this organization. This ensures children are getting better access to health education all year round as opposed to only being available during the summer. They have also partnered with the University of Texas School of Public Health in Austin to conduct community-based research and provide data to determine how effective their program is in reducing childhood obesity. HealthStart also host a Cooking 4 Kids fundraising event, which requires partnerships and donations for their silent auction prizes. The money generated from this auction is used to help fund their workshops, blogs, video series, and curriculum development. Finally, their partnerships with the school districts in the surrounding Austin area has allowed them to improve the health education of children during their school day.
Due to the success of their summer workshop partnership, future partnerships with Housing Authority locations in other cities would help improve HealthStart’s delivery of their programs. This would also help with expansion into more communities and cities around the state of Texas. Currently, the organization works with H-E-B as a sponsor for their virtual gala and programs. More partnerships with other grocery chains, like Aldi or Kroger would be strategic moves for the organization. These two grocery chains cater to lower income families, and through partnerships with them, HealthStart can offer recipes that are composed of ingredients typically found at these locations. Finally, HealthStart should continue to work towards accreditation as a coordinated school wellness program, which requires communication with TEA. Achievement of this goal would allow for them to implement their curriculum into more school districts in the state of Texas and allow them to better reach their targeted audiences.