Healthy Neighborhoods Project

Healthy Neighborhoods Project: A Guide for Community Building and Mobilizing Around Health (1.3MB PDF, 102pp.)

Teens to Help Environmental Justice Project in Bay Point

About the Project

Healthy Neighborhoods Project (HNP) uses a leadership development model to stimulate involvement by low income, ethnically diverse communities to identify and address their own public health priorities, and to help the health department to respond with effective solutions. HNP uses community asset mapping to build resident skills to assess the resources and challenges in their neighborhood, helps them develop resident-driven action plans, provides training in advocacy skills, and supports them as they mobilize and take collective action to change local policies and improve health and quality of life in their neighborhoods. HNP has active teams in West County's North Richmond community and in Pittsburg and Bay Point. A detailed how-to manual (1.3MB PDF, 102pp.) has been produced for health departments and other agencies experienced in community organizing that are seeking a model for asset-based community building to improve neighborhood health.

Current HNP priorities and activities include:

North Richmond:
Members have worked on a variety of issues, ranging from Environmental justice to illegal dumping to violence prevention. The team helped establish and was active in the Alcohol Policy Workgroup, which is a collaboration with Supervisor John Gioia's office, the sheriff, residents and the local business community to eliminate illegal sale of alcohol to minors and to discourage illegal drug sales near local markets. Violence prevention has recently been identified as a priority for action. The Team organizes and hosts an annual Multi-Cultural Children and Family's Health Fair.

West Boulevard:
The team recently completed a Photovoice Project depicting environmental justice issues in the neighborhood. A partnership was formed with tenants, landlords and City Building Inspections to improve housing conditions, conduct neighborhood beautification efforts and advocate for a new park at the local school.

Bay Point:
The Latina Action Team works on environmental justice issues. They actively worked to educate the community on and advocate for improvements to the county's chemical incidence warning system. Currently, they are working on improving the quality and affordability of drinking water for Bay Point residents. The resident members have also worked with TALC and others to advocate for improved transportation and access to services for the largely Spanish speaking community.

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