Healthy youth in healthy schools and communities: Using an assets place-based perspective

Background: Public health researchers and practitioners have traditionally focused on using a deficit-focused approach to eliminating disparities in youth health. Moreover, few in public health have made the link between health and education such that community building efforts partnering with school policy makers are rare. The assets-based resilience perspective suggests that when the focus is on supporting youth at least 70% of youth under adversity manage to adapt successfully. This presentation will highlight how the assets-based perspective was used to assess and address place-level disparities in youth health linking community and school-level strategies.

Methods: Data from the California Healthy Kids Survey 2005-06, Department of Education, school districts, and the Census 2000 was analyzed to examine the link between health and education, assets and health, and disparities by schools and census tracts. Data was shared with a multi-disciplinary group of policy makers from public health, school districts, community and youth groups to initiate collaborative action for building healthy environments to support healthy youth.

Results: We found preliminary evidence that 1) neighborhood poverty and education levels are strong predictors of health, 2) disadvantaged/poorer schools and communities can still have high developmental assets and high academic performance, 3) investing in assets will improve academic performance at the school level, 4) a ‘healthy' community is one with high levels of youth assets.

Conclusion: Investing in assets would improve academic performance and health at the youth and school levels. Some general conclusions and strategies to involve the school districts and policy makers will be shared.