This page provides links to a variety of web resources, including maps and data, toolkits, guides, examples of promising practices, and more. Many of these resources are developed and maintained by other organizations, and the Georgia Health Policy Center does not have any control over changes made to the resources or opinions expressed on external websites.
The Georgia Statewide Health Equity Community of Practice has determined that these topics are foundational to successful collaboration to create healthy communities for all. Please use this table of contents to jump to the types of resources you wish to explore:
Systemic Causes of Health Inequities
The Roots of Health Inequity. Explore the underlying causes of social injustice and health inequity to unearth public health’s role in building healthier communities. https://www.rootsofhealthinequity.org/
As advocates for health equity—when everyone has a just opportunity to live their highest health potential—we need to stop talking about eliminating health inequities. Not because unjust differences in health across groups don’t matter or because we don’t need to transform systems to produce equitable outcomes for all. Rather, framing our focus on reducing differences in health obscures the reality that inequities affect us all. https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/language-matters-why-we-need-stop-talking-eliminating-health-inequities
The Health Equity Guide is a comprehensive resource for public health departments and practitioners to plan and implement health equity and racial justice work. It offers 15 strategic practices, organized using a cyclical gardening framework, to illustrate how each mutually supports health equity goals. https://healthequityguide.org/
This guide is intended to help the Delaware Division of Public Health and its partners with addressing underlying causes of health inequities by supporting the implementation of their health equity strategy. https://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dph/mh/files/healthequityguideforpublichealthpractitionersandpartners.pdf
The Change Library is a practical, searchable, peer-reviewed implementation library that helps change makers by sharing both the things that work and the things that don’t work to improve health, wellbeing, and equity with people and communities. https://www.communitycommons.org/collections/100-Million-Healthier-Lives-Change-Library-on-Community-Commons
Vital Conditions of Health & Wellbeing
The Seven Vital Conditions for Well-Being is a useful framework for conceptualizing holistic well-being and the Conditions that give rise to it, as well as identifying levers for community change and improvement. https://www.communitycommons.org/collections/Seven-Vital-Conditions-for-Health-and-Well-Being
Tool for Health & Resilience In Vulnerable Environments. THRIVE enables communities to determine how to improve health and safety, and promote health equity. It is a framework for understanding how structural drivers, such as racism, play out at the community level in terms of the social-cultural, physical/built, and economic/ educational environments. As a framework, THRIVE is widely applicable to local, state, and national initiatives to inform policy and program direction. As a tool, THRIVE can be used in a variety of planning and implementation processes, from neighborhood-level planning to community health needs assessments (CHNA) and community health improvement planning (CHIP) processes. https://www.preventioninstitute.org/tools/thrive-tool-health-resilience-vulnerable-environments
Targeted universalism means setting universal goals pursued by targeted processes to achieve those goals. Within a targeted universalism framework, universal goals are established for all groups concerned. The strategies developed to achieve those goals are targeted, based upon how different groups are situated within structures, culture, and across geographies to obtain the universal goal. https://belonging.berkeley.edu/targeted-universalism and https://www.communitycommons.org/collections/Achieving-Equitable-Outcomes-for-All
To better support partners and decision-makers in these efforts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed the Health Impact in Five Years (HI-5) Initiative. The HI-5 Initiative shifts the focus beyond traditional clinical approaches to health and explores social and environmental approaches that improve population health and health equity. https://www.cdcfoundation.org/hi-5-initiative
Multi-Solving
Multi-solving—working across sectors to address multiple challenges with one policy or investment—accomplishes more the same budget and aligns constituencies for greater impact. Leveraging the vital conditions framework for achieving equitable community well-being can provide a foundation for multisolving. https://www.communitycommons.org/collections/Multi-solving-101-Co-Creating-Vital-Conditions
This article from SSIR provides six principles and practices to unlock cross-sectoral collaboration extracted from multisolving work. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_magic_of_multisolving
Thriving Together: A Springboard for Equitable Recovery and Resilience in Communities Across America highlights scores of actions that communities, organizations, businesses, governments and funders can take in the wake of COVID-19 and other tangled threats to our nation. It is a practical resource for everyone wanting to help America heal through the trauma of 2020 and secure the vital conditions that all people and places need to thrive. https://thriving.us/download-the-springboard/
By putting equity at the center of municipal policies, American cities can help create a future of shared prosperity in which all can participate and thrive. The All-In Cities Toolkit offers actionable strategies that advocates and policymakers can use to advance racial equity. Select a policy area below to view key strategies and policy tools. Each tool contains information on important policy considerations, who can implement it, and examples of where it is working. https://allincities.org/toolkit
Build Healthy Places Network partnered with Shift Health Accelerator to create the Healthy Neighborhood Investments: A Policy Scan & Strategy Map that identifies several policy actions for advancing health and racial equity through cross-sector investments. The Policy Scan serves as a tool for community-owned priority setting that reduces inequities and strengthens neighborhood revitalization. https://buildhealthyplaces.org/tools-resources/healthy-neighborhood-investments-policy-scan/
In our increasingly interconnected world, the challenges we face are multifaceted and deeply intertwined. Climate change, health disparities, biodiversity loss, and poverty are not isolated issues but part of a complex web of interdependencies. Addressing these challenges requires a holistic approach that recognizes and leverages their interconnections. This is where the concept of multisolving comes into play. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-multisolving-how-do-chad-frischmann-euksc/
The application of traditional zoning can be directly attributed to many of today’s pressing issues, including structural inequities and increased greenhouse gas emissions. Reshaping the City shares promising insights and examples of zoning updates from across the United States that have been crafted to promote healthy mobility, support increased housing affordability, build more resilient places, and accelerate climate action—among a host of other goals. Link here
Asset Based Approaches
How to Move from Deficit-Based to Strength-Based Language. A key issue that is holding us back from really tackling and ending hunger is the focus on not having enough. Within charitable food work, and in other nonprofit sectors too, we describe this concept as the scarcity mentality. https://nonprofitquarterly.org/moving-beyond-the-scarcity-mindset/
‘The Sum of Us’ Tallies the Cost of Racism for Everyone https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/23/books/review-sum-of-us-heather-mcghee.html
Transformational Change
To advance health equity, local health departments must systematically address power imbalances, racism, and other forms of oppression. To do so, they must transform how they work internally, with communities, and alongside other government agencies. https://healthequityguide.org/strategic-practices/
For those who are just embarking on this challenging and rewarding work, the practices and principles of BUILD can serve as a model for change, and the experience of BUILD communities as a resource for best practices. https://buildhealthchallenge.org/resources/workbook/
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, can attract more development interest and increase the likelihood that low and middle income people and people of color get squeezed out of neighborhood housing and business markets rather than benefiting from new development and investments. http://www.buildhealthyplaces.org/content/uploads/2018/04/Healthy-Development-without-Displacement-realizing-the-vision-of-healthy-communities-for-all.pdf
Racial Equity Toolkit: An Opportunity to Operationalize Equity https://www.racialequityalliance.org/viewdocument/racial-equity-toolkit-an-opportuni-2
Leveraging Healthy People 2030 to Build Non-Traditional Multisector Partnerships. The goal of this toolkit is to help state and territorial health agencies (S/THAs) build non-traditional, non-public health sector partnerships to improve health outcomes and advance health equity. The Healthy People 2030 objectives, aligned closely with the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) framework and Health in All Policies (HiAP) lens, can serve as the cornerstone of these collaborations. This toolkit is implementation-focused, providing partnership-building and -sustaining skills that are rooted in Healthy People 2030 tools and success stories and can be operationalized for community needs. https://www.astho.org/topic/toolkit/building-non-traditional-public-health-multisector-partnerships/
Messaging – Talking about Health Opportunity & Equity
Vision, Values, and Voice: A Communications Toolkit provides guidance for developing values-based messages that engage core audiences, disrupt dominant narratives, and help shape the public dialogue. In addition to big picture thinking about communications strategy, you will also find tips and examples of a range of tactics, and concrete messaging guidance in the form of “opportunity flashcards” which provide short and easy-to-find advice and sample language on a range of social justice issues. This resource is for those working to influence public thinking about social justice issues over the long-term while also crafting effective short-term campaigns. https://opportunityagenda.org/our-tools/communications-toolkit/
This step-by-step toolkit will help you get started in thinking about narrative, articulating your narrative strategy, and designing and implementing your narrative projects. Designed for for storytellers, dream weavers, community builders, and those looking to uplift pro social justice narratives, the tools within this toolkit will allow you to analyze the narrative terrain, sharpen your narratives, identify and reach your audience. While based on the immigration movement, these tools can be applied to many more topics or issues. https://www.raceforward.org/resources/toolkits/butterfly-lab-narrative-design-toolkit
FrameWorks collaborates with storytellers, organizations, and coalitions to shift mindsets, change systems, and create a more just world. Visit their website for “framing fundamentals” and a collection of framing resources on specific topics, including housing, health, substance use, the environment, social services, and more. https://www.frameworksinstitute.org/
This handbook is the culmination of a set of trainings, technical support andcoaching for a talented array of communications professionals across the progressive landscape. It provides 8 principles for talking about issues that impact the vital conditions for health and wellbeing, and provides topical examples. https://www.communitychange.org/wp-content/uploads/C3-Messaging-This-Moment-Handbook.pdf
Vital Conditions in Action – Belonging and Civic Muscle
Community-driven change, which strengthens people’s resilience and responsiveness, is more likely to make lasting progress, while also being more fair and democratic. Find references for key issues, historical context, current conditions, and pivotal moves to support belonging and engagement. https://thriving.us/vital-conditions/belonging-civic-muscle/
The Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley advances groundbreaking approaches to transforming structural marginalization and inequality. They are scholars, organizers, communicators, researchers, artists, and policymakers committed to building a world where all people belong. https://belonging.berkeley.edu/
Trauma Informed Community Building: The Evolution of a Community Engagement Model in a Trauma Impacted Neighborhood. The Trauma Informed Community Building (TICB) model was developed as a holistic approach to community engagement that recognizes the impacts of community trauma on residents’ lives. https://sahfnet.org/resources/trauma-informed-community-building-evolution-community-engagement-model-trauma-impacted
These Principles are derived from a thematic review of mission statements and principles from 35 organizations representing the community development, health, academic, government, finance, and philanthropic sectors. https://buildhealthyplaces.org/tools-resources/community-building-principles/
Public spaces are good for democracy. With the right level of community-led design and operations, public spaces build local trust, belonging, and participation in civic life. When we invest recovery funds in our public spaces, then, we do more than improve health and economies. We restore trust in the local institutions that make democracy work. https://www.gehlpeople.com/knowledge-hub/articles/maintaining-our-public-spaces-to-maintain-our-democracy/
Engage for Equity is a partnership of the University of New Mexico Center for Participatory Research, the University of Washington, Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, the National Indian Child Welfare Association, University of Waikato NZ, Rand Corporation, and a Think Tank of Community and Academic CBPR Practitioners. Building on our partnership history, sustaining investments and learning from previous research and lessons learned, together we are committed to using state of the art tools, finding out what works and what kind of partnering practices and collaborations produce successful outcomes. https://engageforequity.org/
Reframing Neurocognitive Differences: What the Neurodiversity Movement Means for Public Health and Equity. Understanding what neurodiversity is (and isn’t), and how the movement fits in with existing advocacy and disability rights, is critical to advancing equitable health and well-being. https://www.communitycommons.org/collections/What-the-Neurodiversity-Movement-Means-for-Public-Health-and-Equity
The Role of Collective Efficacy in Reducing Health Disparities: A Systematic Review. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7012267/
What is bridging social capital? https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/what-is-bridging-social-capital/
Social capital and health: a meta-analysis. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2020.102317
Partnership for Southern Equity. Their mission is to make sure everyone in metropolitan Atlanta and the American South has a fair chance to thrive. https://psequity.org/
Center for Civic Innovation. The Center for Civic Innovation’s mission is to strengthen community understanding, engagement, and power to create transformative policy change. https://civicatlanta.org/
Georgia CEAL (Garnering Effective Outreach and Research in Georgia for Impact Alliance (Georgia) Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID-19 Disparities). https://www.georgiaceal.org/
Vital Conditions in Action – Humane Housing
APA’s Housing Policy guide identifies policy solutions for planners and local, state, and federal elected officials that address dire housing challenges — including accessibility, affordability, and availability — plaguing rapid and slow growth communities nationwide. The Housing Policy Guide promotes specific, actionable guidance that builds upon the policy ideas first identified in 2006 and integrates the policy principles that make up APA’s Planning Home Action Agenda. https://www.planning.org/publications/document/9178529/
The Pew Charitable Trusts’ housing policy initiative works to help policymakers reimagine their approach to housing by illuminating how regulations and statutes drive the housing shortage and rising costs. Links to resources on zoning and land-use regulations, outdated financial regulations, building codes and practices, rural housing, statewide strategies, and more. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/projects/housing-policy-initiative
On the Path to Health Equity: Building Capacity to Measure Health Outcomes in Community Development 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. http://www.buildhealthyplaces.org/content/uploads/2019/07/On-the-Path-toward-Health-Equity-Building-Capacity-to-Measure-Health-Outcomes.pdf
The Housing Justice Narrative is a resource intended for organizers, advocates and community leaders to access tools and research that will allow us all collectively to shift the current discussions and debates around housing to advance a vision of racial justice and homes for all. https://housingnarrative.org/
Advancing Racial Equity in Housing, Land, and Development. The toolbox includes materials for local government staff and their community partners to embed racial equity in housing and planning agencies’ structures, policies, and practices. Materials include conceptual frameworks and the tools and best practices to apply these frameworks in a local government setting. https://www.racialequityalliance.org/viewdocument/advancing-racial-equity-in-housing-1
This resource helps renter and tenant organizers, homeowners, community leaders, housing policy advocates, and everyone who cares about housing as a basic human need talk about housing justice in a way that gets your neighbors excited, wins policy change, and shifts narratives to advance a vision of racial justice and homes for all. https://www.raceforward.org/resources/toolkits/housing-basic-human-need-messaging-guide-housing-justice
“You Don’t Have to Live Here”: Why Housing Messages Are Backfiring and 10 Things We Can Do About It. Housing is the starting point for life trajectories—often determining who has access to good jobs, good food, safe parks, or effective schools. But this perspective is difficult for the public to appreciate. To advance a progressive housing agenda, advocates must first understand why current messages are failing and backfiring. FrameWorks teamed up with Enterprise Community Partners to think about how advocates’ messages affect public thinking. https://www.frameworksinstitute.org/publication/you-dont-have-to-live-here-why-housing-messages-are-backfiring-and-10-things-we-can-do-about-it/
The National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) and the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) are in a partnership aimed to improve healthy housing and address environmental health hazards that impact the home, including issues that impact the indoor environment, the surrounding outdoor spaces, and services like drinking water and sanitation. https://nchh.org/information-and-evidence/learn-about-healthy-housing/in-rural-communities/
Why address manufactured housing policy? https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2020/09/11/protections-for-owners-of-manufactured-homes-are-uncertain-especially-during-pandemic
Health equity considerations for manufactured housing. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/data-visualizations/2015/hia-map/state/oregon/curry-county-housing-stock-upgrade-initiative-pilot-hia
Housing First in Permanent Supportive Housing Brief. This brief provides an overview of the principles and core components of the Housing First model. It also provides information to permanent supportive housing providers about how they can implement a Housing First approach if they are not already doing so. Housing First is an approach to quickly and successfully connect individuals and families experiencing homelessness to permanent housing without preconditions and barriers to entry, such as sobriety, treatment or service participation requirements. Supportive services are offered to maximize housing stability and prevent returns to homelessness as opposed to addressing predetermined treatment goals prior to permanent housing entry. https://www.hudexchange.info/resource/3892/housing-first-in-permanent-supportive-housing-brief/
The Georgia Department of Community Affairs offers affordable housing solutions and rental assistance to individuals and families in need, helping create stable and supportive communities. https://dca.georgia.gov/affordable-housing
The Georgia Affordable Housing Coalition, Inc. is open to anyone involved in the affordable housing industry. GAHC offers educational workshops, a quarterly newsletter, a forum for addressing housing policy issues, and networking opportunities to its members. https://www.gahcoalition.org/
Georgia Advancing Communities Together (Georgia ACT) is a statewide membership organization of nonprofit housing and community development organizations. https://georgiaact.org/
House ATL is a cross-sector group of civic leaders committed to building the political and community will for a comprehensive and coordinated housing affordability action plan for Atlanta. https://houseatl.org/
The Georgia Supportive Housing Association (GSHA) is a non-profit membership network of non-profit housing developers, service providers, statewide agencies and organizations, corporations, associations, and individuals with a shared goal: strengthening housing resources in our state. https://supportivehousingassociation.com/
Habitat for Humanity of Georgia is a catalyst for community. Their relentless commitment to strengthening long-term stability through affordable homeownership empowers families and individuals to transcend barriers, driving economic mobility across generations. https://www.habitatgeorgia.org/
Housing Justice League works with renters and homeowners to self-organize and defend their right to remain. They fight to preserve affordable housing, for just living conditions, to prevent gentrification, and to build community power for an Atlanta-wide housing justice movement. https://www.housingjusticeleague.org/
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation (AVLF) is a nonprofit that believes no one standing up for their rights should have to do it alone. They stand with, for, and in support of low-income Atlantans as they demand safe and stable housing, insist on fair pay for an honest day’s work, and break free from intimate partner abuse. https://avlf.org/
Atlanta Legal Aid Society helps people who cannot afford an attorney with free civil legal services. https://atlantalegalaid.org/home/
Georgia Legal Services Program offers free civil legal services to Georgians with low incomes who reside outside metro Atlanta in 154 of the state’s 159 counties. Their mission is to provide civil legal services for persons with low incomes, creating equal access to justice and opportunities out of poverty. https://www.glsp.org/
The Atlanta Regional Housing Forum is a quarterly gathering of affordable housing stakeholders from all sectors – private, public, nonprofit, philanthropic, and concerned citizens. https://www.atlantaregionalhousingforum.org/
Vital Conditions in Action – Meaningful Work and Wealth
Personal, family, and community wealth provides the means for healthy, secure lives. That includes good-paying, fulfilling jobs and careers, and financial security that extends across the life span. People’s lives and self-worth flourish when doing productive, rewarding work. The ability to accumulate adequate wealth shapes the living standards not only for individual families and communities, but for generations to come. https://www.communitycommons.org/collections/Meaningful-Work-and-Wealth-as-a-Vital-Condition
This a repository of policy-based recommendations for addressing structural and systemic racism or advancing racial equity drawn from a vast array of published material. This links to the economic justice section, which includes policies for employment, job training, tax policy, entrepreneurship, and more. https://belonging.berkeley.edu/structural-racism-remedies-repository?emci=797a9200-d68d-ec11-a507-281878b83d8a&emdi=2f86412e-4b8f-ec11-a507-281878b83d8a&ceid=7508004#economic–justice
The CDC Foundation published its Earned Income Tax Credit Action Guide for public health care professionals. This guide includes information on EITCs, how EITCs keep more families and children above the poverty line and their link with positive health outcomes, especially among mothers and children. GHPC conducted technical assistance and facilitated peer learning to translate the guide into recommendations for state and local coalitions. https://ghpc.gsu.edu/project/earned-income-tax-credit/
Thriving workplaces: How employers can improve productivity and change lives. This McKinsey Health Institute report summarizes the economic benefits of investing in employee wellbeing. https://www.mckinsey.com/mhi/our-insights/thriving-workplaces-how-employers-can-improve-productivity-and-change-lives
Almost half of all workers in the United States – including a shocking 85% of food preparers – do not have paid sick days benefits. Lack of access to paid sick days contributes to the spread of flu and other illnesses, exposes the public to diseases carried by sick workers in restaurants and nursing homes, results in unnecessary trips to the emergency room, and prevents workers from staying home to care for a sick dependent. Multiple health impact assessments have documented the benefits to workers, families, and businesses. https://humanimpact.org/hipprojects/paid-sick-days-hias-case-story/
Building Community Wealth: Shifting Power and Capital in Real Estate Finance. How to shift from extractive capital stacks towards equitable ones that help rebalance risk and return in service of holistic community development and ultimately, community self-determination. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vGL6pHQ08GE8OAMk9tv8ErrffOipgmJC/view
A social enterprise refers to a business with certain social objectives as its primary goal while using a commercial structure to run the organization. These organizations can provide financial sustainability while prioritizing worker and community wellbeing. See https://socialimpactguide.com/journal/social-enterprise-101-types-examples-learning-opportunities/ , https://www.aecf.org/blog/what-is-a-social-enterprise , or https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/what-is-a-social-enterprise/
Rural rising: Economic development strategies for America’s heartland. There is no one-size-fits-all economic development strategy for rural communities. How can local leaders—including governments, businesses, and individuals—put rural regions on track to thrive? https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/rural-rising-economic-development-strategies-for-americas-heartland
How to Measure Rural Development: Key Indicators and Metrics. https://www.socialforaction.com/blog/how-to-measure-rural-development/
Georgia Watch. Founded in 2002, Georgia Watch is the state’s leading consumer advocacy organization, focused on issues that impact your wallet and your quality of life. https://georgiawatch.org/
OneGeorgia Authority. Economic vitality in rural Georgia is the singular goal of the OneGeorgia Authority. From land acquisition, infrastructure development to business relocation assistance and entrepreneur support, OneGeorgia provides grants and loans for these economic development activities to qualified applicants. https://dca.georgia.gov/financing-tools/infrastructure/onegeorgia-authority
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta – Community Development. The community development function within the Federal Reserve System promotes economic growth and financial stability for lower-income communities and individuals through a range of activities. https://www.atlantafed.org/community-development and see also https://www.atlantafed.org/economy-matters/community-and-economic-development
Georgia Budget & Policy Institute. The Georgia Budget & Policy Institute works to advance lasting solutions that expand economic opportunity and well-being for all Georgians. https://gbpi.org/
Atlanta Civic Site. Building public, private and community partnerships to improve education, job opportunities, health and neighborhoods for Atlanta youth and families in low-income communities. https://www.aecf.org/work/community-change/civic-sites/atlanta-civic-site
Kindred Futures. Since 2018, Kindred Futures has led with solutions, built with community, and invested with partners to elevate community wealth-building principles to build collective Black wealth. https://kindredfutures.org/
The Reinvestment Fund Atlanta/Southeast https://www.reinvestment.com/insight-tag/southeast/ Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Atlanta https://www.lisc.org/atlanta/ , NeighborWorks Columbus https://nwcolumbus.org/
Vital Conditions in Action – Basic Needs for Health & Safety
Physical and mental well-being starts with access to fresh air and water, nutritious food, and the security of a stable home. People also need healthy relationships – with freedom to express gender and sexuality – and a life free from violence, injury, and toxic stress. Access to routine and critical health care is also an important factor to maintaining health and well-being.. Some of the most significant opportunities are expanding access to healthcare and preventive services; improving support systems; and fostering safer, more just communities. https://www.communitycommons.org/collections/Basic-Needs-for-Health-and-Safety-as-a-Vital-Condition
How the federal government can address violence and harm through a public health approach. To keep individuals, families, and communities truly safe from violence and harm, policymakers must tackle the “social determinants of safety” that contribute to neighborhood violence in the first place. The blueprint outlines an evidence-based policy agenda that prioritizes upstream interventions to advance community safety. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/a-new-community-safety-blueprint-how-the-federal-government-can-address-violence-and-harm-through-a-public-health-approach/
This toolkit is a compilation of information about planning and public health in South Carolina. While the focus in on comprehensive plans, the toolkit can also be used more broadly to help develop public policy related to planning and public health for a wide range of planning projects. https://scdhec.gov/sites/default/files/Library/SCHealthPlanningToolkit.pdf
Community Partners in Care (CPIC) was a collaborative research project of community and academic partners working together to learn the best way to reduce the burden that depression places on two urban communities. Through a Community Engagement and Planning model, CPIC trained local organizations likes barbershops, beauty salons, senior centers, and fitness clubs on mental health screening and intervention. The program reduced homelessness, cut ED utilization for mental health needs in half, and increased use of mental health supports in primary care and community settings. https://communitypartnersincare.org/
ROC works together with California industries and communities to ensure that every aspect of our food—from when it’s grown to when it’s eaten—can be healthy, safe, profitable and fair for all Californians. https://www.rootsofchange.org/
As many people have learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, fast, reliable broadband is also important for people to work from home, take online classes, and order groceries and other items online. For healthcare facilities, broadband is needed to send electronic files, support patient portals, and complete telehealth visits. Many populations don’t have access to high-quality broadband, so expanding telehealth service is going to exacerbate these already existing disparities, since the people who would most benefit from telehealth still can’t access it. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/rural-monitor/broadband
A comprehensive model of building community capacity in Washington helped make dramatic reductions in rates of health issues and social problems. https://www.rwjf.org/en/insights/blog/2016/07/to_heal_a_community.html
The Center for Violence Prevention at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has implemented trauma-informed care training to transform pediatric healthcare networks into trauma-informed institutions. https://injury.research.chop.edu/blog/posts/culture-shift-spreading-trauma-informed-care-across-health-system
Taking Action for Reproductive Justice: Tools, Resources, and Data. This collection focuses specifically on taking action. It houses tools, toolkits, resources, datasets, maps, policy briefs, and stories related to reproductive justice, reproductive rights, maternal health, and key intersectional topics. https://www.communitycommons.org/collections/Taking-Action-for-Reproductive-Justice
CORE. CORE began working in Georgia in 2020 to provide critical relief to hard-hit and vulnerable communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, CORE has continued its efforts to provide equitable access to vital COVID-19 relief and has expanded to offer Flu vaccinations, health equity programming, benefits navigation and resource coordination, chronic health screenings, HIV/STI test kit distribution, and Mpox vaccinations. https://www.coreresponse.org/georgia/
Georgia Health Initiative. Georgia Health Initiative is working to change systems and advance bold ideas to improve the health of Georgians. https://georgiahealthinitiative.org/
At Georgians for a Healthy Future, we partner with advocates, communities, and consumers to lead policy change that advances health equity for all Georgians. https://healthyfuturega.org/
Resilient Georgia builds bridges between public and private partners across the state to create an integrated behavioral health network of services and resources for Georgia’s children (0-26) and families. Resilient Georgia is among the only organizations focused on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) prevention and increasing trauma-informed awareness and care delivery through statewide coalitions. https://www.resilientga.org/
Food Well Alliance is a collaborative network of local leaders working together to build equitable and thriving community gardens, urban farms, and orchards across metro Atlanta. Our mission is to provide resources and support to local growers to connect and build healthier communities. https://www.foodwellalliance.org/
Vital Conditions in Action – Convenient Choices in Transportation
Reliable Transportation is about moving between home, work, school, stores—and more—in daily life. Transportation options influence access to jobs, social mobility, and our health. Active transportation—walking, biking, and transit use—helps us incorporate physical activity into our daily lives. Designing compact communities and sustainable transportation systems ensure people are able to get where they need to go no matter a person’s means, mode, or ability. https://www.communitycommons.org/collections/Reliable-Transportation-as-a-Vital-Condition
The State of Transportation and Health Equity identifies the biggest challenges to health equity facing our transportation system and the best tools to address the problem. Developed through rigorous feedback from a huge panel of health and transportation experts from across the country, each of the six sections outlines challenges, corresponding strategies, as well as success stories from all different types of places. https://smartgrowthamerica.org/resources/the-state-of-transportation-and-health-equity/ and https://smartgrowthamerica.org/webinar-recap-the-state-of-transportation-and-health-equity/
The CDC Foundation published its Public Transportation Action Guide for public health care professionals. This guide includes information about why public health should join forces with public transportation and how public health practitioners can bolster public transportation systems.
This research project seeks to identify changes to the built environment that small and medium-size cities can make to promote health and health equity. We focus specifically on small and medium-size cities—that is, cities whose populations are less than 250,000—because little research explores how small and medium-size cities are implementing policies, plans, programs, project, and pilots to address the health inequities in their communities. https://www.urban.org/research/publication/leveraging-built-environment-health-equity
The Rides to Wellness program was a demonstration project by the Atlanta Regional Commission with funding from the Federal Transit Administration. It provided transit passes, individualized mobility training, and assistance with applying for reduced-fare transit cards to individuals who were at risk for missing or cancelling their chronic care appointments. Participating health systems saw a 68% improvement in appointment adherence.
PropelATL: Transforming Atlanta’s streets into safe, inclusive, and thriving spaces for people to ride, walk, and roll. https://www.letspropelatl.org/
Identifying Inequities in Your Area
The annual data release provides a revealing snapshot of how health is influenced by where we live, learn, work, and play. The snapshots provide communities a starting point to investigate where to make change. https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/health-data
This web application provides interactive maps for model-based estimates of 36 chronic disease related measures at county, place, census tract, and ZCTA levels. PLACES is an expansion of the 500 Cities project. It is a collaboration between CDC, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the CDC Foundation. https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/22c7182a162d45788dd52a2362f8ed65
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Social Vulnerability Index (hereafter, CDC/ATSDR SVI or SVI) is a place-based index, database, and mapping application designed to identify and quantify communities experiencing social vulnerability. https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/placeandhealth/svi/interactive_map.html
Trusted Well-Being Data on Children and Young People in the United States. The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT® (LA INFANCIA CUENTA™) is a premier source of data on children, youth and families. Find indicators for the nation, states and more. https://datacenter.aecf.org/
Regional and statewide data for Georgia and the Atlanta region. https://neighborhoodnexus.org/
Bridge the gap between data and action. Their mapping application, analytics platform, and data licensing services are built for non-GIS professionals, data-literate researchers, and everyone in between. https://www.policymap.com/
The National Equity Atlas is America’s most detailed report card on racial and economic equity. We equip movement leaders and policymakers with actionable data and strategies to advance racial equity and shared prosperity. The Atlas is produced by PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute. https://nationalequityatlas.org/
The original Well-Being In the Nation Measures were developed by over 100 organizations and communities working together across sectors to identify and try out measures that mattered to them as part of the 100 Million Healthier Lives initiative. The process of developing and updating these measures is stewarded by Well-being and Equity (WE) in the World and is done in collaboration with Healthy People 2030, the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics and others with input from hundreds of communities. https://www.winmeasures.org/
EJScreen EPA’s Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool. Identify environmental health risk factors. https://ejscreen.epa.gov/mapper/
Identify environmental health risk factors. https://ejscreen.epa.gov/mapper/
Data 101: Finding and Using Information
Mobilize data, research, and evaluation to make the case for, assess, and inform interventions for health equity. https://healthequityguide.org/strategic-practices/mobilize-data-research-evaluation/
Welcome to the Racial Equity Data Lab, a space where you can create data visuals and dashboards to support your campaigns for racial equity and inclusive recovery. https://nationalequityatlas.org/lab
These resources and tools provide helpful guidance around using and interpreting data and maps for community change work. This is a great place to start for community data skill-building—you’ll find descriptions of foundational concepts, tips and tricks, and emerging and innovative tools and resources for using data to drive and inform your work. https://www.communitycommons.org/collections/Maps-and-Data
Getting to Results connects a racial equity lens to the Results-Based Accountability (RBA) methodology to help empower jurisdictions to make good decisions and advance racial equity. The RBA framework shows a relationship between whole population level results and community indicators of those desired results to the actions that groups determine will be most effective at producing change in communities. https://garemembers.racialequityalliance.org/viewdocument/racial-equity-getting-to-results-2
Rural & Urban Health Inequities
This toolkit by the Rural Health Information Hub organizes evidence-based models and resources to support the implementation of programs that address the social determinants of health (SDOH) in rural communities across the United States. https://www.buildhealthyplaces.org/tools-resources/community-resource-library/resource/social-determinants-of-health-in-rural-communities-toolkit/
This report synthesizes recent studies on the complexities of how blight affects the health of individuals and neighborhoods while offering a blend of policy and program recommendations to help guide communities in taking a more holistic and coordinated approach, such as expanding the use of health impact assessments, tracking health outcomes, and infusing public health into housing policies, codes and practices. http://www.urban.org/research/publication/urban-blight-and-public-health
Rural communities may be able to secure continued funding for health equity efforts if they can demonstrate the economic impact of reducing inequities. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/toolkits/health-equity/6/making-the-case
Georgia Health Policy Center Resources
Including Community Resources
Millions of people use the Community Tool Box each year to get help taking action, teaching, and training others in organizing for community development. Dive in to find help assessing community needs and resources, addressing social determinants of health, engaging stakeholders, action planning, building leadership, improving cultural competency, planning an evaluation, and sustaining your efforts over time. https://ctb.ku.edu/en
The Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCD) is at the center of a large and growing movement that considers local assets as the primary building blocks of sustainable community development. Building on the skills of local residents, the power of local associations, and the supportive functions of local institutions, asset-based community development draws upon existing community strengths to build stronger, more sustainable communities for the future. https://resources.depaul.edu/abcd-institute/Pages/default.aspx for the institute and https://resources.depaul.edu/abcd-institute/resources/Documents/WhatisAssetBasedCommunityDevelopment.pdf for the toolkit
Community Health Workers in Vital Conditions Work
Engaging Community Health Workers to Achieve Health Equity in North Carolina was a capacity-building training hosted by NC CEAL and CCPH. The training provided an up to date overview of community health workers (CHWs) in North Carolina. By participating in the training, participants were able to gain better insights about CHWs’ lived experiences to inform their health equity work, creating new connections between community members and CHWs and identifying best practices on how to engage CHWs in their communities. https://ccphealth.org/nc-ceal-engaging-community-health-workers-to-achieve-health-equity-in-north-carolina/
Aligning Systems and Sectors
The Assessment for Advancing Community Transformation (AACT) tool allows communities to directly collect and use data about their collaborative efforts transform communities. By assessing six key themes and 22 subitems, the tool provides data to community collaboratives in order to reflect, prioritize, and align actions based on their shared understanding where they are now and where they want to go. https://ghpc.gsu.edu/tools-frameworks/aact/
Based on their learning from years of their own grant making and the research of others, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation worked with the Georgia Health Policy Center to develop Framework for Aligning Sectors to help users envision how aligning across sectors can extend beyond one-time, grant-funded efforts. The framework emphasizes coordination that is built to last, values the unique contributions of each sector, and the importance of sharing power and voice with community members.
Strategic Partnerships
Effectively addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) and promoting health equity in communities requires an intentional focus on cross-sector partnership among public health, health care, and community-based organizations (CBOs). This page describes structures that cross-sector partnerships can put in place to set themselves up for success. https://virtualcommunities.naccho.org/gettingfurtherfaster/blogs/eileen-kazura/2024/06/04/unlock-the-potential-of-cross-sector-sdoh-partners
The goal of this toolkit is to help state and territorial health agencies (S/THAs) build non-traditional, non-public health sector partnerships to improve health outcomes and advance health equity. The Healthy People 2030 objectives, aligned closely with the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) framework and Health in All Policies (HiAP) lens, can serve as the cornerstone of these collaborations. This toolkit is implementation-focused, providing partnership-building and -sustaining skills that are rooted in Healthy People 2030 tools and success stories and can be operationalized for community needs. https://www.astho.org/topic/toolkit/building-non-traditional-public-health-multisector-partnerships/
This toolkit provides guidance for creating a partnership among different organizations to address a common goal. https://ctb.ku.edu/en/creating-and-maintaining-coalitions-and-partnerships
Research suggests that multi-sector partnerships for health equity can improve local health system capacity and health outcomes. What can be learned from the experiences of community-based organizations that have leveraged partnerships to create healthy and equitable communities? https://jchs.harvard.edu/research-areas/working-papers/local-place-based-partnerships-pathway-health-equity
With support from the Kaiser Permanente National Community Benefit Fund and in partnership with Human Impact Partners, the CDC Foundation developed a set of recommendations and roadmap for building and strengthening partnerships between public health agencies and community-based organizations (CBOs). This resource offers tactical and strategic recommendations stemming from conversations with more than 100 health departments and CBOs. https://www.cdcfoundation.org/programs/strengthening-interface-between-public-health-and-community-based-organizations
The Social Justice Phrase Guide is your go-to tool to craft inclusive messages. Whether developing language for your organization, communicating through media platforms, or engaging in personal discussions, follow these guidelines to successfully communicate across communities. https://opportunityagenda.org/messaging_reports/social-justice-phrase-guide/