Sparking a Dialogue about the Social Determinants of Health at the Local Level - Small and Large Successes

Raising public awareness of the social determinants of health at the community level is challenging, but imperative. The Health Equity Alliance has employed innovative strategies to address social justice and barriers to health equality at the local level. This group, located in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, has engaged hundreds of individuals, representing diverse sectors of the community, in discussions involving community assets and gaps. Using “community cafés” and the Unnatural Causes television series as a tool, alliance members have sparked conversations and generated action in small and large ways. Discussions have facilitated small-scale policy gains such as spurring action on transportation in rural parts of the county. Partnerships forged through this alliance have resulted in leveraging larger-scale funding efforts, such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities Childhood Obesity Prevention Program, in which the Benton County Health Department is engaging stakeholders in a community effort to implement policy, systems, and environmental changes to improve access to healthy foods and physical activity in underserved and rural parts of the county. In this presentation, we will share how a community listening project implemented on a shoe string budget challenged community members to identify barriers to health and equality (e.g., food access and availability, transportation and access to services and goods, green spaces and safe recreational opportunities) and how these barriers affect their community. We will describe how action steps were identified, prioritized and implemented.