Dear friends and colleagues,

The fall is upon us, though the Bay Area’s Indian summer is still going strong. We are in the midst of quite a few projects, including a new HIA on wage theft in Los Angeles being led by our Health and Equity Fellow, Fabiola Santiago as well as an HIA in Columbus, Ohio on Safe Routes to Schools. 

Two weeks ago, six of us attended the 2^nd Annual National HIA Meeting in Washington, DC. We thought we’d focus this newsletter on our impressions of the meeting, which we all felt was fantastic. It was great to see so many of you and to see the field advancing in such amazing directions.

HIP staff were quite busy at this year’s meeting. We gave a number of talks, including on our recently completed national immigration reform and Minnesota school integration HIAs; we led sessions on working with community organizers and attorneys; we moderated a plenary on equity and HIA; and we had panel discussions of important topics in HIA, such as consideration mental health impacts, a model for rapid HIA with community involvement, and alternatives to HIA.

It seemed to us that at this year’s conference, there was a bigger emphasis on the role of community organizing in HIA, as well as more discussion of issues related to equity, power, and advocacy. We were excited to be a part of these discussions and think they are important conversations to have within the field.

Below are a few brief impressions or highlights from each of us who attended:

Casey: The meeting was extremely thought provoking, with an inspiring array of new examples and methods. I mainly attended data-related breakout sessions, and the essentially data-less HIA in Keno City, Yukon really illuminated the possibilities of what pure community engagement can accomplish, as well as the challenges. My favorite session was the breakfast roundtable given by the five youth researchers from Oakland on their learning academy HIA—truly a first for the field.

Celia: I was inspired and motivated by the many voices (both new and familiar) of HIA at the national meeting. I appreciated the presence of community organizations and students there, and hope to see more and more of these diverse HIA practitioners in the field moving forward. I also simply had fun networking with such a great community of people doing exciting and important work!

Fabiola: As a first time attendee and being relatively new to the field of HIA, I was quite impressed with the level of information covered by the wide range of presenters. HIA practitioners, policymakers, academics, public health department representatives, community organizations, and other leaders shared their experiences, strategies, suggestions, tools, and challenges. This personally helped me get a better understanding of what to expect and how to tackle potential setbacks as I proceed with my HIA project. I also appreciated the effort from the conference planners to bring people from various disciplines together—a tactful step to increase HIA visibility.

Holly: I enjoyed the discussions and interest around integrating mental health considerations into HIA and believe this is a topic that will continue to grow in importance and relevance. I found the sessions on new data tools and what to do when there is limited (or no) data to be quite intriguing. Finally, I am struck by how much fun I have in connecting with HIA practitioners at various national meetings. I think there is some inherent quality in people who are drawn to this field that seems to include people who not only care deeply for others, but also know how to truly enjoy life. It is always a pleasure to connect with such folks.

Jonathan: What crystalized for me was that there are several theories of change among HIA practitioners: some believe that data alone will lead to better decisions; others believe that data and a consensus building process will do so; and others believe that data combined with an HIA process that is used to build power in disenfranchised communities that face inequities is the best way to achieve meaningful change. See my blog about this for more details.

Kim: There continues to be incredible expansion in the field of HIA, which is clear when comparing this meeting to the inaugural meeting. More people now consider HIA not just a curiosity and new interest, but their passion and current life’s work – leading to a great sense of camaraderie. As the HIP staff who facilitated sessions on community organizing and HIA, it was very inspiring to engage in a discussion of how community organizing within HIA – not just community engagement in HIA – has led to incredible results, and to see the deep engagement that participants from across the country have had with this framework.  

As you can see, our staff had a great time, were really engaged, and learned a ton. Congratulations to the conference organizers for hosting such a great gathering!

Announcements

• HIP has a job opening for a half-time Operations Director. Click here for a job description and information about applying.
• HIP is partnering with the Center for Community Health and Evaluation (CCHE), to evaluate the successes, barriers, and impacts of “Community Participation in HIA.” The evaluation will involve a survey of 50 HIAs throughout the U.S., as well as four in-depth case studies. Please look for more information about this project in HIA-related newsletters in the next few months or contact Kim Gilhuly or Holly Avey from HIP for more information. CCHE is the evaluation organization conducting the RWJF-funded national evaluation of HIA outcomes.  
• The California Department of Public Health and Public Health Institute recently released the highly anticipated new toolkit, Health in All Policies: A Guide for State and Local Governments. 
• Our colleagues at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council in Massachusetts submitted an entry into the Knight News Challenge focused on easing access to quantitative health and health determinant data for use in HIAs. If you “applaud” them, they could win.
• Save the date! HIA of the Americas 2014 will take place September 15-16, 2014 in Oakland, CA. 

Last, some hellos and goodbyes. Congratulations to Jennifer Lucky and her husband Teo Ernst who welcomed a healthy and happy baby daughter, Mia Lucky Ernst, to their family on August 26. We wish them the best and look forward to welcoming Jen back in the new year.

Allie Hu, who worked with us as an intern for 10 months, recently moved on to a job at the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Thank you, Allie, for all your great work and good luck with the new job!  

We welcome Brooke Staton to HIP as a new intern. Brooke comes after receiving her Bachelors in psychology from Occidental College and with an interest in pursuing work around the social determinants of health. 

We also welcome Helen Chen, from the Labor Occupational Health Program at UC Berkeley to our Board.

We hope you are all doing very well!

Peace, 

Brooke, Casey, Celia, Fabiola, Holly A, Holly L, Jen, Jonathan, Kim, Lili, Marnie, and Sara