The partnership focused on developing a vision and action plan for making New Amsterdam a "Healthy Community" by fostering partnerships among the municipal government, relevant national government agencies, and the community; mobilizing community resources to improve the quality of life in New Amsterdam, particularly in the area of environmental clean-up; and helping to develop new community leaders, with a special focus on nurturing female and minority leaders.

The New Amsterdam council and Chamber of Commerce organized focus group meetings and workshops to introduce the Healthy Community concept and methodology to community stakeholder. Focus group discussions addressed the importance of leadership and community involvement in improving New Amsterdam’s quality of life; determined community priorities and objectives; identified existing or potential community leaders; and mobilized the human, financial, and other resources needed to achieve these objectives.

Participants embraced the idea with great enthusiasm, and, with the support of the council, agreed to initiate a "Healthy Community" program in New Amsterdam. The Huntsville delegation facilitated the development of a community action plan that articulated the community’s vision, layed out the action steps required to achieve this vision, and identified the community partners and resources involved in each. New Amsterdam created action teams to lead specific elements of the plan (e.g., trash collection and community clean-up days). Huntsville provided ongoing technical support on the action plan, and procured a complete set of the "Healthy Community" materials for New Amsterdam from the Search Institute.

The Huntsville team also inspected New Amsterdam’s drainage management system and provided a number of recommendations for addressing some of the most critical concerns. Based on these recommendations, the regional government provided financial and technical resources to resolve them. As a result, the partners decided to make the “Healthy Community” initiative the key focus of the partnership.