What is Healthy Cities/Healthy Communities?
___Healthy Cities/Healthy Communities provides an intellectual and philosophical framework for an inclusive, participatory process of developing a healthy community.
The two basic premises upon which Healthy Cities/Healthy Communities rests are:
___A comprehensive view of health.
___A commitment to health promotion.
Why use Healthy Cities/Healthy Communities?
You use Healthy Cities/Healthy Communities because:
___It takes a community perspective on issues and health promotion.
___It brings a sense of community ownership to any initiative.
___It provides a broader range of ideas.
___It gives access to citizens’ knowledge of the community.
___It encourages community-wide ties.
___It assumes participatory planning.
___It sets achievable goals.
___It asks for the identification and use of community assets and resources.
___It establishes a community commitment to the process over the long term.
___It creates a healthy community self-image.
Who should participate in Healthy Cities/Healthy Communities?
___You try to engage everyone in the community.
You make particular efforts to engage:
___Local officials.
___Target populations.
___Anyone who implements or administers, or whose life or job will be changed or affected by, the initiative.
___All the agencies, organizations, and institutions that will need to cooperate or collaborate in order to realize goals.
___Local opinion leaders.
How do you use Healthy Cities/Healthy Communities?
You include the necessary components of a successful Healthy Cities/Healthy Communities initiative by encouraging the community to:
___Create a compelling vision based on shared values.
___Embrace a broad definition of health and well-being.
___Address quality of life for everyone.
___Engage diverse citizen participation and be citizen-driven.
___Encourage multisectoral membership and widespread community ownership.
___Acknowledge the social determinants of health and the interrelationship of health with other issues (housing, education, peace, equity, social justice).
___Address issues through collaborative problem-solving.
___Focus on systems change.
___Build capacity using local assets and resources.
___Measure and benchmark progress and outcomes.
To approach a Healthy Cities/Healthy Communities process, you:
___Assemble a diverse and inclusive group.
___Generate a vision.
___Assess the assets and resources in the community that can help you realize your vision, and the issues that act as barriers to it.
___Choose a first issue to focus on.
___Develop a community-wide strategy, incorporating as many organizations, levels, and sectors as possible.
___Implement the plan.
___Monitor and adjust your initiative or intervention.
___Establish new systems that will maintain and build on the gains you’ve made.
___Celebrate benchmarks and successes