By Linda Shak, program manager and Lily Swartz, communications coordinator
January 8, 2013
This article initially was published in the Community Commons blog.
At a time of growing concern about the rise of preventable chronic disease, more and more local elected officials from across the country understand that the places where people live, work and go to school can greatly influence the health of their constituents. These local decision-makers are beginning to see it is their responsibility--working alongside residents, neighborhood organizations, businesses and other leaders--to make their communities healthier by improving access to healthy food and ensuring safe places for residents to be physically active.
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett is making it fun and convenient for people to walk, jog and bike. He started a city-wide conversation about health in 2008 and has since led the city to make big changes, adding new sidewalks, building gyms, and working to create senior health and wellness centers that help residents be more physically active.
In Providence, Rhode Island, Mayor Angel Taveras signed an executive order creating a Healthy Communities Office that is working to lower rates of chronic disease by providing safe and convenient places for kids to play, hosting bicycling events, promoting the city's walkability, helping residents start community gardens, and increasing participation in federally-funded child meal programs.
Lemon Grove, California, School Board Member Blanca Brown saw that poor nutrition and lack of opportunities for physical activity were not just affecting student health and wellness but were creating a barrier to academic achievement. She pushed for policy changes that opened playgrounds after school, improved school nutrition and created new recreation classes and activities.
At Prevention Institute, with funding from the American Public Health Association, we've been talking to local elected officials to better understand this growing trend, and to pinpoint the various roles local elected officials can play in advancing these kinds of community prevention efforts. We wanted to know:
- How do local elected officials first decide to become involved with prevention work?
- What kind of additional support is needed from constituents, partner organizations, and their colleagues in local government?
- Which factors contribute to success, and how can successful initiatives be replicated in other places?
Values that ResonateWe spoke with local elected officials representing different political parties, different geographic locations, and serving at different levels of jurisdiction. Despite all their dissimilarities, we were able to identify common values that many local elected officials share, and that contribute to their commitment to advancing health and wellness. We share these findings in our new brief, Championing Change: Elected Officials Act Locally to Make their Communities Healthier.
For example, prevention...
- Saves money and lives. Seven out of ten deaths are caused by preventable chronic diseases. Not only is investing in prevention the right thing to do, it's also good for the economy. It means we have a healthier workforce, and healthier kids who are more able to learn and eventually contribute to new ideas and innovations.
- Creates healthier, vibrant communities. As Mayor Mick Cornett of Oklahoma City says, "No business would want to locate to a community with bad health. They'd wonder about absenteeism rates and health care costs. But, if we are truly going to be a job creator and are looking to keep health care costs down, you have to be a community where health is a priority." Investing in prevention can help to create jobs and small businesses, and keeps money in the local economy.
- Allows communities to determine the right solutions for them. Prevention is about communities figuring out the best ways to use their resources and strengths to address their greatest needs by supporting and promoting health, in the first place. In some communities, this might mean a joint-use agreement to ensure access to safe places to play after school hours; in others, it could mean passing tobacco-free policies for low-income housing. The essence of community prevention is about not only building health, but also supporting decision-making at a very local level.
- Hinges on partnership and collaboration. At the core of every prevention effort is the idea that by working together, we can create a healthier, more vibrant community. Improving community health may mean a partnership between representatives from city hall, schools, businesses, and community residents or even across the political spectrum. Not only is prevention collaborative by nature, but -- especially on a local level -- prevention efforts can even bridge across the aisle. Republican Mayor Chip Johnson of Hernando Mississippi, and his Democratic colleague Joe Reardon of Wyandotte County, Kansas, underscore this idea: "We've both found that investing in health and prevention not only helps our friends' and neighbors' quality of life, it also gives our limited budgets the most bang for their buck." (Health Investment for Cities, Nation Is Smart, By Chip Johnson and Joe Reardon, Special to Roll Call, Aug. 6, 2012)
- Addresses multiple community priorities. Prevention efforts rarely just improve health -- they also affect other areas of community life. For example, bike lanes boost business, better food in schools helps students learn better, and efforts to improve access to smoke-free air might spark a whole new community coalition and increase civic engagement. As sustainability becomes a growing priority for public health - and for communities everywhere, prevention becomes the clear solution because it benefits people, profits, and the planet.
Raise your voice
Above all, we found that for local elected officials, the perspectives of community members really do matter. Elected officials -- especially on the local level -- are invested in hearing about what their constituencies want. Educating local elected officials about community prevention can help them to better understand the barriers facing residents and help them to identify priorities and develop a health agenda for the community. Call your local leaders and share with them the changes you want to see in your neighborhood or school, or write a letter to the editor or co-author an op-ed featuring your prevention work. (For tips on making the case for prevention through media advocacy, check out our toolkit.)
Visual data makes a big impact. Community Commons has free tools that let you create, save, and share maps and reports of your communities health data just like these. Explore here.
More information
To learn more, we invite you to download Championing Change: Elected Officials Act Locally to Make their Communities Healthier, a new brief by Prevention Institute and the American Public Health Association. This brief provides tips and lessons to help local elected officials and their staff members improve health in their hometowns. It can also be used by community advocates and public health practitioners to better understand how to engage local elected officials in prevention initiatives.
Linda Shak, MSW, Program Manager at Prevention Institute, provides training and consultation to constituencies working across the United States to develop quality prevention efforts including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Community Transformation Grant(CTG) awardees. Linda has also delivers training and technical assistance to elected officials from the National Association of Latino Elected Officials and National League of Cities, to build the capacity of local elected officials to advance community prevention in their local jurisdictions. In California, Linda serves as a manger of the Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments, a statewide network for food and activity advocates. She is the co-author of Championing Change: Elected Officials Act Locally to Make their Communities Healthier.
Lily Swartz, BA, Communications Coordinator at Prevention Institute, is dedicated to helping non-profit organizations find their voice, connect with key audiences and make their messages heard in order to inspire lasting, sustainable social change. Lily coordinates and implements Prevention Institute's communications approach and efforts, including overall strategy development, media outreach, messaging, and technical support. She develops and maintains the organization's web and social media strategy, staffs Prevention Institute's Health Reform Rapid Response Network, which provides supporters with news, research and opportunities to advance community prevention within health reform, with a specific focus on issue-framing and media advocacy. Lily is also a co-author of Championing Change: Elected Officials Act Locally to Make their Communities Healthier.