The Healthy Cities/Communities movement is in its second decade. Internationally it sprung to life rapidly through the leadership of the World Health Organization. In the United States, California Healthy Cities and Healthy Boston initiated the movement early. At the national level, the National Civic League, the AHA Health Research and Education Trust, and the Health(Care) Forum have all been involved in advancing this movement. Public health/CDC, academic institutions, national and community foundations, the United Way, and other governmental agencies have also been active, to some extent. At the local community level, the movement has been fostered by local hospitals and hospital related foundations as part of “community benefits.” Health departments and/or individuals interested in community improvement have also been instigators. State level support, including the public health agency, United Way, Chambers of Commerce, hospital association, municipal association, voluntary not-for-profit organizations, has been much less consistent or organized. Herein lies an important challenge for communities which depend on the state level leadership, resources and support. Movement leaders from four states (California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and South Carolina) have contributed their experiences in building state support to the development of: “The Key Components of State Support for Local Healthy Communities Efforts.” This paper addresses these Key Components, examines how widespread these supports are, assess these supports to successful local efforts and makes recommendations based on this analysis that could be used to strengthen the state-level support which can go a long way to assuring success where it is the MOST important, the community.
Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to identify the key state level capacities and issues necessary to supporting local healthy community efforts. Participants will be able to understand the underlying issues which make state-level support essential to communities. Participants will be able to identify an assessment continuum for agencies and organizations to assess their capacity for supporting local health improvement efforts
Keywords: Public Health Infrastructure, Community Health Promoters
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.