Historical Overview of Efforts

Environmental Justice

PHOEC staff has worked in two communities to build resident knowledge and advocacy skills around environmental justice. Staff have provided the Bay Point Latina Action Team with training on environmental justice issues and helped residents identify priorities for local action. Currently the Team is working on helping the community understand the Chemical Incidence Warning System and working with responsible agencies to improve it. The West Boulevard Familias Unidas neighborhood action team in Pittsburg received environmental justice and advocacy training, conducted a Photovoice project and used the information to set priorities for improving neighborhood housing and establishing a new park at the local school. With a small amount of Keller Canyon funds, the Team planned a neighborhood event to celebrate and showcase its accomplishments. PHOEC staff also worked internally to develop a CCHS Environmental Justice Framework to guide the department's future efforts to engage communities around these concerns.

This Framework will be available in early Fall 2007.

Transportation and Access to Services

Healthy Neighborhoods Project worked with the Transportation and Land Use Coalition, the Bay Point Partnership and the Latina Action Team to address community concerns about how to improve transportation and access to health care and other key services (funded by The Women's Foundation).

Multi-Cultural Strategies to Improve Community Health

PHOEC staff supports the North Richmond Neighborhood Action Team to plan and host an annual Multi-Cultural Children and Family's Health Fair, which is attended by over 200 North Richmond families and children. Staff organized a cross-cultural learning series in collaboration with the Bay Point Partnership, for local service providers. The purpose is to engage individuals in key organizations to share and explore individual cultural assets and challenges and to assess organizational practices and challenges to provide culturally appropriate services.

Alcohol Policy

The North Richmond Neighborhood Action Team helped co-found the West County Alcohol Policy Workgroup (APWG). APWG is a collaboration between Supervisor John Gioia's office, local law enforcement agencies, Contra Costa Health Services and residents and local merchants from North Richmond, Iron Triangle, San Pablo and El Sobrante. Residents formed the APWG in 2001 to respond to community concerns about violence and related illegal activities occurring near neighborhood liquor stores in these communities. The group's mission is to reduce alcohol sales to minors, educate residents on the danger of alcohol abuse and reduce loitering, violence and drug dealing around liquor stores. Successes to date include resident training in case building, creation of an IMPACT team to inspect stores for compliance, suspension of licenses at several liquor stores and loading zones painted at curbs that has markedly decreased loitering.

Youth Leadership Development

The Youth Empowerment Strategies (YES!) Project was a social action efficacy study carried out by the Public Health Institute in Berkeley. Its aim is to demonstrate that empowerment education, Photovoice and other participatory action approaches will support youth to take on social action projects at the community level and that this will positively influence their health and life trajectories. Healthy Neighborhoods Project was a partner in the initial project which focused in seven middle schools in West Contra Costa. Funds are currently being sought to adapt and continue the project in two middle schools in West County, with an emphasis on violence prevention.

Violence Prevention

Neighborhood Action Teams frequently develop plans that include violence prevention objectives. These have ranged from lobbying for youth activities located in the neighborhoods, to advocacy for street lights and speed bumps to discourage illegal activities, to parent training on recognizing early gang behavior in children. The North Richmond Action Team recently selected violence prevention focused on youth as it's top priority, in response to the recent community violence in West County. PHOEC staff also worked with other the Divisions to catalogue current health department activities that help prevent violence, developed a Conceptual Model (90k PDF, 1p.), and researched most promising practices being used by other health departments around the country. We currently staff a cross-divisional team that is implementing ten recommended actions (112k PDF, 3pp.) developed by the initial workgroup.

In April 2007, a cross-divisional team of managers from Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drug Services, Clinic Services and Public Health began meeting to determine how to carry out the recommendations, with a focus initially in West County.

Community Engagement Strategies in Public Health

PHOEC developed the Ladder of Community Participation as a framework and tool that can be used by local health departments to assess, evaluate and plan effective community engagement strategies (478k PDF 8pp.) to improve health. An article using the Ladder to describe a range of approaches to involving communities has been produced and is available. Training for local health departments has been offered to local health departments in California, including the Bay Area. Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHI), a coalition of 7 local health departments.

Content provided by the Public Health Division of Contra Costa Health Services.