by Paula Braveman, Elaine Arkin, Tracy Orleans, Dwayne Proctor, Alonzo Plough This is a report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Definitions can matter. While differences between some definitions may represent stylistic preferences, others can reflect deep divides in values and beliefs that can be used to justify and promote very different policies and practices. Clarity is…

…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…

…An increasing number of initiatives have been launched with a goal of inspiring multisector approaches to improving community health. Public health agencies at local, state, and federal levels, in partnership with other government leadership, can play a vital role in leading across silos and bringing the various sectors together. The broad, community efforts for public health exemplified by…

…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…

…MacArthur’s How Housing Matters to Families and Communities initiative explores the notion that stable, quality housing may be an essential “platform” that promotes positive outcomes in education, employment, and physical and mental health, among other areas. To that end, the foundation embarked on a five-year, $25 million research investment, which included support for a research network and 42…

…Success Measures is an outcome evaluation resource for community development organizations, intermediaries and funders. A social enterprise based at NeighborWorks® America, Success Measures was created by practitioners and funders who wanted to document their impact for the people and communities they serve. Its participatory approach equips nonprofits and their funders with skills and tools needed to demonstrate results and…

…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…

…This report by the New York State Health Foundation outlines which hospitals in New York State and nationally are addressing non-medical determinants of community population health, as well as facilitators of and barriers to this work.  …

…This new report by Enterprise Community Partners and NeighborWorks America shows how an innovative pilot program – the Health Outcomes Demonstration Project – equipped 20 affordable housing and community development organizations to evaluate health outcomes across a range of programs. The evaluated programs include neighborhood improvement and community safety initiatives, youth education and services, housing improvement, service coordination…

…A new book, What It’s Worth: Strengthening the Financial Future of Families, Communities and the Nation provides a 360-degree view of the financial problems and challenges millions of American households face. The book highlights the enormous creativity and innovation underway to improve financial well-being, and provides concrete ways that nearly all sectors of society can implement proven and…

…Creating Access to Opportunity by Building a “Village Center” in a Houston Neighborhood In the 1970s during Houston’s oil boom, the city’s Gulfton neighborhood sprouted street after street of luxury apartment complexes catering to the single young professionals pouring in to work in the oil industry. Swimming pools, hot tubs, and even a disco seemed essential in the…

…“Community investing” is investment that seeks to deliver social benefits to low-income or marginalized communities while also generating a financial return. This report provides an overview of the U.S. Community Investing (USCI) field: the types of intermediary organizations raising investments and deploying them in underserved communities, the range of investment products that are available, and the types of investors…

…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…

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…

…Investing in What Works for America’s Communities is a book that calls on leaders from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to build on what we know is working to move the needle on poverty. The book’s authors represent a broad range of sectors including federal agencies, philanthropy, housing academia, health, and the private sector. This collection of essays…

…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.  …

A working paper examines the California Organized Insurance Network (COIN) CDFI Tax Credit Program, its job expansion implications and key drivers necessary to replicate the model….

…How can measurement support an adaptive change process in a community system striving to optimize population well-being? How can integration and management of data collection and analysis work in practice? This case study of the Magnolia Community Initiative describes such a measurement system, and offers it as an example to illustrate a set of principles for measurement. Authors: Moira…

The direct effects of poor quality or unsafe housing on health are well established; researchers have also increasingly turned significant attention to the role of housing affordability in fostering stability and reducing stress. In this brief by the National Housing Conference, Rebecca Cohen details the results of research on the pathways through which affordable housing can affect the…

…This report, prepared by Wilder Research and the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis for the RWJF Commission to Build a Healthier America, provides new information on collaborative action to improve the health of communities across the country. It addresses the following questions: What collaborative activity is occurring between the health and community development sectors in the United States? What…

…Testimony by Nancy Andrews of the Low Income Investment Fund, prepared for the RWJF Commission to Build a Healthier America, on the need for better collaboration between the health and community development sectors. If I could make a wish for community development as a whole, it would be that we reach across the aisle in partnership with our colleague…

…Recognition by the business community of the need to invest in creating healthy communities is growing. Visionary leaders from business and emerging countries have met to talk about innovation and investments in communities. These leaders recognize the need for addressing social determinants of health in order to enhance the health and well-being of communities and to further the progress…

…Realizing that disconnected silo-based efforts cannot effectively address these interrelated conditions on their own, innovators within the community development field have increasingly experimented with a different approach that speaks to linked community challenges. In this emerging approach, professionals from different but related community development sectors work together in a multi-sector coalition toward a common goal with an aim to…

…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…

…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,…

…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…

…What matters most to health is the context in which we live our lives. This calls for a profoundly different health delivery and financing system with some pretty hefty obstacles in the way. But it is possible to meet these challenges. This article in the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco‘s Community Development Investment Review, by Rick Brush of…

…Can community development finance help “bend the cost curve” for health care? That is one of the questions motivating this issue of the Review. In light of the insights and research from the authors in this volume of the Community Development Investment Review, the answer is a resounding yes. The reality is that people who live in supportive, connected,…

…Community development isn’t just about where low-income people live; it’s about how well they live. Zip code and health are intrinsically linked. In the first of a series of articles on this from the Institute for Comprehensive Community Development, LISC’s Amy Gillman looks at how and why community development has become so critical to the question of better health…

…A report by the National Association of Community Health Centers and the National Association of County and City Health Officials provides an overview of several partnership opportunities available to federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and local health departments (LHDs) seeking to improve health outcomes in their community, while promoting cost-effective care….