Where Health Meets Place: A Guide to Community-Driven Health Plan and Community Development Collaboration

Health and place are deeply connected, and the true experts in this work are the communities themselves. For generations, residents have been organizing to create the conditions for health, opportunity, and belonging. Yet, health plans and community development organizations often operate on different tracks, missing the chance to invest in the priorities that residents have already identified.

That’s where “Where Health Meets Place: A Guide to Community-Driven Health Plan and Community Development Collaboration” comes in.

Developed by Build Healthy Places Network (BHPN) and the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP), this guide moves beyond one-off projects. It provides a roadmap for health plans and community developers to stop ‘doing for’ and start ‘investing with’ communities—aligning their resources, capital, and expertise behind the solutions that residents hold agency over. This is how we move from disconnected efforts toward sustained, community-led investment in the conditions that shape health.

Inside you’ll find: 

• Real-world case studies showcasing health plans and community development partners already doing this work.
• Practical frameworks for building lasting multisector partnerships by aligning governance, metrics, funding, and community relationships.
• Actionable tools to help move beyond pilot projects toward long-term, community-driven investments that reduce costs, expand opportunity, and advance health equity.

Access the Guide and Start Collaborating