Building a Robust and Equitable Health Infrastructure

OVERVIEW

• This approach focuses on improving health services available to residents and to educating communities on how to make best use of them. Some common strategies include:
  • Working with governments and local health providers to improve health and emergency services available. This can take the form of improvements in the physical infrastructure of the health system and/or making care more widely accessible (e.g., mobile health clinics, school clinics, etc.)
  • Improving access to quality preventive healthcare services.
  • Eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health care availability and outcomes.
  • Educating residents—especially parents—on a range of health issues they and their children will face, including drug and alcohol abuse, the risks of teen pregnancy, and childhood obesity.

RESOURCES AND EXAMPLES

• The Healthy Communities Program at the Centers for Disease Control provides Action Guides, trainings, case studies of best practices, funding opportunities, and other resources. 
• According to Solutions for America,  “research shows that when children and their parents are connected to the right supports, communities benefit: children do better at home and at school, are less likely to engage in risky behaviors, and are better prepared to transition to adulthood. Helping youth avoid risky sexual behaviors, linking them to supportive mentoring relationships, and parent education are tested strategies to strengthen families.”

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Encouraging Healthier Lifestyles

OVERVIEW

• This approach focuses on using neighborhood design, advocacy, and education to increase physical activity, make healthier food available, and create an environment with less toxins.
• Strategies to encourage a more active lifestyle include:
  • Adding or improving walking and running paths and dedicated bike lanes.
  • Passing ordinances for more stop signs and sidewalks.
  • Improving parks and providing public exercise equipment.
  • Ensuring children have safe and clean places to play (including parks and playgrounds).
  • Encouraging children to play more actively by reducing time in front of the television or computer.
• Strategies to make healthier food options available to residents at all stages of life, and to encourage the consumption of healthier foods when available include:
  • Establishing local farmers markets.
  • Connecting neighborhoods with local farmers through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). CSAs provide local and seasonal produce, meat, and other products to urban residents. Members of CSAs pay a regular fixed fee in exchange for a portion of the farmer’s offerings.
  • Developing urban farms, which provide both fresh food and a center for community activity.
  • Revising school contracts to provide more healthful alternatives and to remove highly processed options.
  • Providing breastfeeding education classes and information on the benefits of breastfeeding
• Education campaigns can also inform residents on the benefits of healthy eating and active lifestyle, particularly when it comes to avoiding or managing chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
• Finally, programs that encourage residents to stop smoking have clear health benefits.
  • Communities Creating Healthy Environments is a national capacity-building initiative and funder of efforts to provide good food and recreational opportunities to communities of color.
  • Action Communities for Health, Innovation & Environmental Change (ACHIEVE) brings together local leaders and government organizations to foster healthier communities focused on physical activity, nutrition, and fighting chronic diseases. The website offers information and case studies on many of the 200+ ACHIEVE communities around the country—from large municipalities like Chicago to smaller towns like Black Hawk, Iowa.
  • Pioneering Healthier Communities, West Michigan From the website: “In 2005, Pioneering Healthier Communities set out to increase fruit and vegetable consumption for people who lived in low-income, African American, and Latino communities in urban Grand Rapids. Because the existing food environment created barriers to this objective, the coalition created community and schoolyard gardens and farmers’ markets. By 2008, the Activate West Michigan coalition had begun to improve the food environment by establishing nine community and schoolyard gardens and five farmers’ markets.”
  • Growing Power, Inc.  is a national non-profit organization dedicated to the research and promotion of urban farming with the goal of providing healthy, local, fresh produce to urban neighborhoods, particularly those that have traditionally been underserved. Read about its efforts in Milwaukee, WI, and Chicago, IL.

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