By Ana Tellez

To improve safety for skaters in their neighborhood, a coalition of San Diego kids lobbied hard for a new skate park, but they were having a hard time getting city officials to take them seriously. To convince decision-makers and skeptical community members, the coalition used data from a health impact assessment (HIA) to make their case. With support from The California Endowment, Human Impact Partners helped the youth to identify priority issues and develop a plan for an HIA to highlight benefits that a new skate park would bring to the community. The kids’ work paid off. The City Heights Skate Plaza opened in 2016 and is a living reminder that anyone can have a voice. Learn more about the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts: http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/projects/health-impact-project

On December 4, 2014, The California Endowment honored the Los Angeles Department of Public Health for its unique efforts and innovations to combat health inequities at the first ever Advancing Health Equity Awards: Highlighting Health Equity Practice in California Public Health Departments. The Los Angeles Department of Public Health was awarded the Health Equity Award for Exemplary Large County Practice for its program, Parks After Dark. Parks After Dark is a partnership – including the parks department, law enforcement, public health, social services, community-based organizations and community residents, convened by the Department of Public Health – designed to reduce and prevent community violence. This program has decreased serious and violent crime in three neighborhoods, while other Los Angeles neighborhoods without the Parks After Dark program continue to experience a rise in crime rates.

Since 2012, Monterey County Health Department (MCHD) has been using Health in All Policies (HiAP) framework with a Collective Impact approach to intentionally expand upstream work on social determinants, including staffing and funding support for a department ‘backbone’. MCHD developed a stronger county-wide commitment to health equity both within the department and outside with stakeholders by using five key HiAP elements: 1. Promoting incorporation of HiAP into policies, programs, and processes and embedding HIAP into government decision making; 2. Fostering intersectoral collaboration; 3. Creating co-benefits; 4. Engaging stakeholders; and 5. Creating structural change. HiAP has been a catalyzing force for partnership development with community residents, coalitions and community-based organizations across public works, housing, transportation, and community empowerment. Their work has led to strategic wins – like the County adopting “promoting access to equitable opportunities for healthy choices and healthy environments in collaboration with communities” as a priority in its 2017-2018 Legislative Platform – as well as the building of power in communities facing inequities through, for example, the enLACE Leadership and Civic Engagement Academy.

Public Health Awakened is a national network of public health professionals organizing for health, equity, and justice. We work with social justice movements on strategic and collective action to create a world in which everyone can thrive and to resist the threats faced by communities of color and low-income communities.

Research and policy recommendations on the effects of forced family separation in the Rio Grande Valley.