Cover letter to Tribal Leader

Attachment 9

Advance Locating Letter to tribal Leaders

HHS Letterhead

[Date]

[Name and address of Tribal Leader contact]

[Dear . . .]

I am writing to request your participation in a study on the Healthy People initiative. The Healthy People initiative has provided a comprehensive set of data-driven, national disease prevention and health promotion objectives with 10-year targets aimed at improving the health of all Americans since 1979. The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is conducting an evaluation of the current iteration of Healthy People, Healthy People 2020, and requesting guidance on the development of the next iteration of Healthy People, Healthy People 2030.

Your Tribe was randomly selected for the sample and is being asked to participate in this study. A 2008 study of Healthy People 2010 found important differences between tribal views of the initiative and those of states and localities. We are asking you to provide us your Tribal Health Director’s contact information, to insure we send the survey to the appropriate individual. The survey should take no longer than 20 minutes to complete. Your Tribal Health Director’s participation in this study is critical to the success of this evaluation, and will provide HHS with important tribal perspectives on ways to improve the initiative and promote specific strategies to prevent disease and improve health.

The information your Tribal Health Director provides on this survey will be held strictly confidential. Your tribe’s identity will be separated from the responses to the survey. The information gathered will be used solely by ODPHP, or its representatives for research, and will not be disclosed or released to other persons for any purpose except as required by law.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at [toll-free number], or Caitlin Oppenheimer, MPH, the NORC Project Director, at (301) 634-9322.

Thank you in advance for your Health Director’s participation.

Sincerely,

Dr. Don Wright, MD, MPH

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health

(Disease Prevention and Health Promotion)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services