Fostering increased collaboration across county and city agencies to add health language and policies into a General Plan

Required by California law, General Plans guide the growth and land use development of cities and counties. As understanding of the connections between the built environment and social conditions and health has grown, the incorporation of health language and elements into General Plans has increasingly been recognized as a promising strategy for addressing inequity and improving community health.

In 2011, Santa Clara County initiated a General Plan update by focusing on the creation of a separate health element. Home to more than 1.8 million people and generally referred to as Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County is one of the most affluent areas in the US. However, almost 1 in 7 children and 1 in 10 adults live below Federal Poverty Level, and a sizable percentage of residents must contend with extremely high housing and transportation costs and unequal access to income and resources.

The Santa Clara County Public Health Department and Department of Planning and Development worked collaboratively with other agencies, jurisdictions and organizations and solicited substantial community input in order to draft a comprehensive Health Element for the County General Plan. Informed by data within an Existing Conditions Report, the final Health Element addresses policy on health equity, active and sustainable transportation, housing, recreation and physical activity, food access, violence prevention, and climate change. The Health Element provides high-level strategies and policies intended to inform and guide health improvement efforts within Santa Clara County and other jurisdictions and organizations in Silicon Valley.