Persistant Limitations of the Built Environment on Obesity Prevalence in Minority Youth and their Families in Connecticut: Implications for Social Justice and Policy Solutions

Over the last several years, health science and public health researchers have explored the impact of the built environment on population health outcomes. Despite evidence of unequal environmental exposures and specifically differential access to built environmental structures, including the amount and quality of greenspaces, sidewalks, and grocery stores, on life quality and expectancy; changes to the built environments where minorities predominantly reside has remained slow. Failure to equalize built environments continues to contribute to persistent health inequities among minorities overall and to African Americans and Latino children in particular. Using data from the County Health Rankings, this study will compare indicators of the built environment across Hartford, New Haven, and Fairfield Counties by race/ethnicity and income to document persistent obesity-related health inequities linked to the built environment. Research will lend further evidence of continual neglect and social injustice with regard to unequal built environments. A Health in All Policies Approach (HiAP) will be employed to draw implications for policy change and proven national policy solutions will be described.