New England Partnership for Health Equity: Community-based approaches for addressing the social determinants of health

The Boston Public Health Commission's (BPHC) Center for Health Equity and Social Justice, developed by BPHC and Mayor Thomas M. Menino, focuses on eliminating racial and ethnic health inequities among city residents. The Center, launched in October 2008, combines two Commission offices to expand efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic health inequities: the REACH US Center of Excellence in the Elimination of Disparities (CEED) and the Office of Health Equity. The work of the Center is to develop a comprehensive health equity agenda that guides BPHC's programs and partnerships with a focus on organizational change, policy development, community coalitions, community engagement, and sustainability. Central to this work, the Center has convened an interstate learning collaborative, the New England Partnership for Health Equity. The vision of the Partnership is to build the capacity of agencies and coalitions across New England to develop strategies that achieve health equity through community, system and policy level change. The Center for Health Equity and Social Justice provides members of the Partnership funding, technical assistance, mentorship and support as they develop, implement and evaluate strategies for addressing the social determinants of health in communities across New England. In this session, the presenters will share BPHC's comprehensive and regional health equity approach and discuss the unique strategies employed by members of the Partnership to address health inequities. The model presented will be valuable for both public health departments aiming to establish similar approaches and partnerships and community-based agencies and coalitions engaged in health equity efforts.