…The potential health returns from community development investments are vast. This research estimates a nearly 300% rate of return from one such comprehensive development project in Washington D.C. and provides an ROI calculator to estimate health returns for other community development investments. Cross-sector community development efforts addressing multiple social determinants of healthcare becoming the norm, but practitioners lack tools…

…Actions Toward Equity, a new report from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, shares lessons learned from the 2013-2017 Prize winning communities. This report can be a helpful resource for communities striving to give all residents a fair and just opportunity for health. Since 2013, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize has honored communities across…

Just as conditions within our homes have important implications for our health, conditions in the neighborhoods surrounding our homes also can have major health effects. Social and economic features of neighborhoods have been linked with mortality, general health status, disability, birth outcomes, chronic conditions, health behaviors and other risk factors for chronic disease, as well as with mental…

…Over the past four decades, the Healthy Communities movement has transformed traditional definitions and approaches to health. Philanthropic organizations, nonprofits, and government agencies—driven by the disconnect between health spending and health outcomes, the growing awareness of the importance of the social determinants of health, and the need to address poverty as a means of improving health—are leading efforts to…

…Produced by National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders (NALCAB) with support from JP Morgan Chase Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Citi Community Development and NeighborWorks America this guide helps community members and community-based organizations anticipate changes in their neighborhoods. This guide provides tools and methods for analyzing socio-economic, demographic, and real estate date and projecting the impacts that market…

…This toolkit presents strategies for addressing the pressures of gentrification in a community during different phases of gentrification: before it happens, as it is happening, and after a neighborhood has been gentrified. It is possible to have development without displacement. These tools may offer a starting point for collaboration with community residents, non-profit organizations, local businesses, elected officials, and…

…Healthy Development without Displacement: Realizing the Vision of Healthy Communities for All In recent years we have seen a surge in initiatives designed to improve health and safety through changes to community environments, with new investments in bike lanes, parks, urban trails, public transit, grocery stores, and more. Over time such investments, combined with shifting job and housing markets,…

…This paper by The Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy and PolicyLink serves as a primer on how to view the complex issue of gentrification. It reviews the findings, analyses and frameworks developed during the gentrification wave of the ’70s and ’80s. The paper outlines the complex ways that current and “original” residents view gentrification-and clarifies that…

Written by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Los Angeles this article explores the historical perspectives on neighborhoods and change; trends in mobility and neighborhood segregation; dimensions of neighborhoods and change; the role of public investment in neighborhood ascent and understanding negative impacts of gentrification.    …

…In 2015, Communities Joined in Action (CJA) launched this take-home advice series to accelerate local organizations’ efforts toward achieving better health and well-being for their communities. This marks the sixth issue in this series, which is based on semiannual surveys of leaders from organizations catalyzing population health in order to provide usable information for communities. This installment is…

…cognitive development, but finding financing is frequently a high barrier to developing and preserving high-quality facilities. In light of these challenges, community development financial institutions (CDFIs) have partnered with foundations to find solutions to financing child care facilities development and renovation. These solutions have included a common suite of tools—loans, grants, technical assistance, and policy advocacy. However, research that synthesizes…

…from five to 30 years,” Thaden and Wang conclude. “The embrace of long-term and lasting affordability requirements by local governments illustrates their commitment to preserve the affordable housing stock in their communities as well as the more prudent use of public and private investment in affordable housing.” Although comprehensive data on impact and program characteristics was not available for the…

Health in All Policies: A Guide for State and Local Governments was created by the American Public Health Association, Public Health Institute and the California Department of Public Health, in response to growing interest in using collaborative approaches to improve population health by embedding health considerations into decision-making processes across a broad array of sectors. It is geared…

…We spend more than 2/3rds of our time where we live; thus, housing and neighborhood conditions invariably affect our individual and family’s well-being. The health impacts from blighted properties—substandard housing, abandoned buildings, and vacant lots—are often not immediately visible or felt. This report—Urban Blight and Public Health—synthesizes recent studies on the complexities of how blight affects the health…

Health centers offer care to people who are isolated from traditional medical options because of various factors and the investment is paying off. Today, with federal investment from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), the number of health centers has reached 1,200. Author: Peg Underhill, Capital Link…

…The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed a series of infographics on healthy communities, available for use in presentations and printed material. Browse them below and click each one to download it in a higher resolution:…

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s NewPublicHealth blog published a series of infographics exploring the connections between our health and the places where we live, learn, work and play, View their infographic on transportation and health below:…

…budget decisions, and federal agriculture and energy policies can all impact our health. Health impact assessments (HIAs) allow policy-makers to consider how proposed policies that may seem unrelated to health would affect health, and could be used to improve it. HIAs can also help marshal community support for a project, facilitate collaboration across sectors, and offer benefits for businesses….

…Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, writes in Investing in What Works for America’s Communities on the social determinants of health and the need to work together in health and community development to accelerate change.  …

…Cross-sector strategies require a common framework and shared standards for achieving maximum impact. Jeff Edmonson of StriveTogether and Nancy Zimpher of the State University of New York discuss the importance of setting standards for collective impact and getting a better social return on investment in our most challenging issues. “In the “new normal” where resource limitations are a fact…

For millions of Americans, a steady job in safe working conditions is much more than a paycheck. Steady employment can provide the income, benefits and stability necessary for good health. Read a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation issue brief on the links between stable, well-paying jobs and better health….

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s NewPublicHealth blog published a series of infographics exploring the connections between our health and the places where we live, learn, work and play, View their infographic on employment and health below:…

…Through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthy Communities Program, communities are working to reduce chronic diseases by changing the places and organizations that touch people’s lives every day. The program’s tools for community action include: A Guide to Community Preventive Services, offering science-based recommendations and findings on strategies and policies that improve health and prevent disease in…

…Community development financial institutions (CDFIs), which play an important role in providing financial products and services to underserved communities, are increasingly being asked to demonstrate measurable returns. This demand for quantifiable impact is not unique to the CDFI industry. As public and private resources become increasingly scarce, it is a challenge they share with many other sectors. In response,…

…The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Community Health has developed a free online tool to help organizations develop success stories. The tool includes guidance on how to write a success story, a downloadable worksheet to begin the pre-writing process, three pre-made templates and a free photo library. View the CDC’s library of completed success stories here….

…field of health impact assessments (HIAs) provides a way to factor health outcomes into decisions that affect both housing and neighborhoods, such as zoning, road-building, codes, or neighborhood revitalization. With HIAs, doctors and public health experts can work with communities to inform decisions in other fields that will help people lead healthier lives. Author: Aaron Wernham, Health Impact Project…

…It is increasingly well recognized that the design and operation of the communities in which people live, work, learn, and play significantly influence their health. However, within the real estate industry, the health impacts of transportation, community development, and other construction projects, both positive and negative, continue to operate largely as economic externalities: unmeasured, unregulated, and for the most…

Why does education matter so much to health? While it’s known that education leads to better jobs and higher incomes, research also shows that better-educated individuals live longer, healthier lives than those with less education, and their children are more likely to thrive. Yet changing demographic trends and rising college costs threaten the future of education in the…

…A blog post and accompanying infographic by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City explores the different ways that the Affordable Care Act could improve the health of communities….

…Measurement can help community development and health practitioners align and optimize their investments and leverage additional resources to achieve shared goals. However, there is no clear guidance for reconciling the established systems for measuring community development activities and outputs—such as housing units built, jobs created, and people served—with the outcomes and impacts of health. The Network’s executive director Doug…