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Healthy Communities Tools

The Regional Center for Healthy Communities approaches every community process with the Healthy Communities principles in mind.  A Healthy Communities process is one that facilitates new collaborations and brings together a variety of community members to identify a shared vision for the community.   Together they create and implement a plan to improve community health and well-being. This process is shaped by the people who participate, by the needs that they identify and by the resources available in the community. Thus, Healthy Communities processes look different in every community despite following similar steps. In a Healthy Communities context, health is not merely access to healthcare and the absence of disease, but strengthening positive social, mental, physical, economic, and environmental conditions.

 
The Healthy Community Principles are:
 
Ø      A broad definition of “health”
Health is not just the absence of disease. Health is defined broadly to include the full range of quality of life issues. It recognizes that most of what creates health is lifestyle- and behavior-related. Other major factors are genetic endowment and the socio-economic, cultural and physical environment. Health is a by-product of a wide array of choices and factors, not simply the result of a medical care intervention.
 
Ø      A broad definition of “community”
By using as broad a definition as possible of what makes up a community, individuals and partnerships can address their shared issues in the most fruitful way possible. Communities are inclusive and can be based on faith, perspective, land and profession, as well as being determined by geographic lines.
 
Ø      Shared vision of community values
A community's vision is the story of its desired future. To be powerful and inspiring, a community's vision should reflect the core values of its diverse members. A vision is not just a statement on the wall - it is a living expression of shared accountability to priorities.
 
Ø      Improved quality of life for everyone
Healthy communities strive to ensure that the basic emotional, physical and spiritual needs of everyone in the community are attended to.
 
Ø      Diverse resident participation and widespread community ownership
In healthy communities, all people take active and ongoing responsibility for themselves, their families, their property and their community. A leader's work is to find common ground among participants, so that everyone is empowered to take direct action for health and influence community directions.
 
Ø      Focus on “systems change”
This is about changing the way people live and work together. It is about how community services are delivered, how information is shared, how local government operates, and how business is conducted. It's about resource allocation and decision making, not just "nice" projects.
 
Ø      Build capacity using local assets and resources
This means starting from existing community strengths and successes and then investing in the enhancement of a community's "civic infrastructure." By developing an infrastructure that encourages health, fewer resources will need to be spent on "back end" services that attempt to fix the problems resulting from a weak infrastructure.
 
Ø      Benchmarks and measures process and outcomes
Healthy communities use performance measures and community indicators to help expand the flow of information and accountability to all citizens, as well as to reveal whether residents are heading toward or away from their stated goals. Timely, accurate information is vital to sustaining long-term community improvement.
 
(Darvin Ayre, Gruffie Clough and Tyler Norris of Community Initiatives, LLC.)
 
 
Healthy Communities resources developed by the RCHC:

  • A Timeline of the Healthy Communities Movement: Download it by clicking here.

 

Healthy Communities recources available in our library:

  • Coming soon. 

Healthy Communities resources available on the web:
 

 

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