CIC Community Health Assessment Case Studies

Compiled in support of Local Community Health Assessment Projects (background on this initiative)

Social determinants focus

Center for Health Equity – Louisville, USA
State of Food and Louisville Metro Health Equity Reports: Promising practices by the Center to assess and take action on the root causes of health disparities in the Metro Louisville region.
CT Health Equity Index – State of Connecticut, USA
Health Equity Index: Local health departments statewide are using the Health Equity Index in their community health needs assessments. The tool generates quantitative scores, maps, and other metrics and guides qualitative assessments. It is a resource for strategic planning and prioritization, and developing targeted interventions.
Program on Health, Equity and Sustainability – San Francisco, USA
Several resources to advance social and environmental determinants of health: The Sustainable Communities Index (SCI)is a comprehensive system of over 100 performance indicators for a livable, equitable and prosperous city; Health Impact Assessment (HIA) training and practice development is a resource for planning. Partnerships with the Bay Area Regional Inequities Initiative provide resources for public health practice, including healthy neighborhood planning guides and self-assessments.
King County Equity and Social Justice – Seattle / King County, USA
This County wide initiative is a promising practice for advancing equity and social justice, addressing some of the most fundamental causes of persistent health disparities. Impact Review is a practical tool available for use and includes examples about how it is used to advance equity across all County programs.
New Orleans Index at Ten – Greater New Orleans, LA, USA
Reducing blight: Efforts to eliminate vacant, abandoned properties are a promising practice for improving the physical environment, thereby creating healthier communities.
City of Minneapolis Sustainability Indicators – Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Sustainability improvements translate to improved health. Minneapolis is taking action and monitoring progress toward creating a city where residents, workers, businesses, and visitors all enjoy a high quality of life.
Austin City and Travis County Community Health Assessment – Austin, USA
Austin City and Travis County have partnered with multiple health care providers and community partners to launch a comprehensive Community Health Assessment (CHA) and Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP).

Stakeholder Engagement

Fit NOLA Partnership – New Orleans, USA
Blueprint for Action: A promising practice for broad stakeholder engagement is evidenced by this award-winning partnership. The Blueprint offers a multi-sector approach to improving fitness, employing a social-ecologic model for achieving policy and systems changes.
Communities Count: Social and Health Indicators Across King County – King County Washington, USA
Broad, sustained engagement: Communities Count provides data and special reports on indicators about the health and well being of King County communities through a new web portal. Communities Count offers a promising practice for its innovative broad stakeholder engagement and community-driven process. Reports emphasize prevention and a long-term view of change and uses data to enhance understanding of what sustains healthy communities and families.

Connecting Planning to Results

Health Matters in SF – San Francisco, USA
Health Matters in SF: The Vital Signs (Community Benefits Collaboration) engages broad stakeholders uses an innovative dashboard tool, and connects assessment and planning to action providing a promising practice for CHA/CHIP development.
Austin and Travis County: Community Dashboard – Austin and Travis County, USA
The Community Action Network (CAN) offers a strategic framework and annual work plan, integrating issues identified through the County’s CHA/CHIP. The CAN Dashboard is an engaging visual tool that compellingly communicates community indicator data and CAN’s strategic framework.

Innovative Tools

Minnesota Compass – Minnesota, USA
Data portal: The Minnesota Compass data portal provides a rich set of information and data for exploration, including a library, “what works”, and other useful resources.
Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance – Baltimore, MD, USA
Data portal offers access to community-level data: Every indicator available at the Community Statistical Area (CSA) geography can be downloaded in either an Excel (.xls), ArcGIS shapefile (.shp), or Google (.kmz) format. Shapefiles are archived in .zip files for downloading.
Program on Health, Equity and Sustainability – San Francisco, USA
Open Data: Through the City’s data portal, DataSF, Environmental Health will provide access to city baseline and neighborhood data which can help visualize complex changes in the social, economic and physical environments most important to health and land use.
Boston Indicators Project – Greater Boston Region, MA, USA
WEAVE: The project leverages data from Metro Boston Data Common, a new data portal, using an innovative, open-source data visualization tool WEAVE. Users can view and create their own maps and charts.

Sustainability of Process

Baltimore City Health Department – Baltimore, USA
Cross Agency Health Task Force: Healthy Baltimore’s 2015 agenda for change acknowledges that a local public health department cannot successfully implement the plan working alone. The plan relies on the diverse partnerships of our neighborhoods, businesses, academic institutions, community-based organizations, non-profit agencies, medical institutions, foundations, and schools. Baltimore employs a “health in all policies” approach through its Cross Agency Health Task Force, a promising sustainability practice.
King County Equity and Social Justice – Seattle / King County, USA
The initiative is sustained through policies, including a County Ordinance, and integrated with the County strategic plan. Interbranch teams support the initiative, including intensive community engagement.
Santa Cruz County Community Assessment Project – Santa Cruz County, USA
The collaborative community assessment partnership is a comprehensive planning process with broad stakeholder engagement, which has lead to results. It is a promising practice for the sustainability of its process and addressing the determinants of health.