Dear friends and colleagues,
Hope you all are well and had a good Thanksgiving holiday. This is HIP’s final newsletter of 2013 and we’re excited to share updates on a few items:
- A new paper HIP authored on HIA and community organizing
- New HIA projects we’ve started on a proposed skatepark in San Diego, on several state legislative proposals with the Health Officers Association of California, and new technical assistance projects in Minnesota
- Announcements for an intern position with HIP and our Christmas wish: more facebook likes!
Before jumping in to our updates, we wanted to share a few reflections on the past year and on progress we’ve made in accomplishing our mission – specifically, on our work to draw greater attention to the underlying values of HIA and also to broaden the application of HIA to new topic areas.
About eighteen months ago, HIP made an intentional decision to shine a light on the underlying values of HIA that drew us at HIP to this work – namely the principles of democracy and equity. As part of that decision, we started our national evaluation of community engagement in HIA; developed and published resources to support practitioners to more effectively and meaningfully incorporate these principles into their work; and have communicated more publicly about the importance of these values to our organization and to our rapidly evolving field.
It may be early to report on the impact of these activities, but we’ve begun to feel that there is indeed a greater discussion among practitioners about what these values mean and how they can be applied. We also feel like we’ve seen an increase in more honest discussions – at the HIA of the Americas Workshop and the National HIA Meeting, for example – on what makes for successful HIAs, who has the “right” to conduct HIAs, and the role of advocacy in our work. We think these are important discussions to be having and appreciate all of you partaking in them with us.
We also feel incredibly proud of the work we’ve done to successfully advance the application of HIA to new topic areas such as immigration, incarceration, and education policy. Our Family Unity, Family Health – which examined the impacts of detentions and deportations on child and family health – continues to be used by immigrant and child rights organizations and cited in the national media (most notably in Spanish-language press) to contextualize the state of immigration policy and describe its consequences for children and families. Advocates continue to use report findings and recommendations in 1-on-1 meetings with legislators and at national events, and partners tell us that the focus on children resonates with diverse audiences.
Released in November 2012, our Treatment Instead of Prisons HIA has had a tremendous impact on the conversation around treatment over incarceration in Wisconsin. Every major media outlet in the state covered the release of the HIA, and elected officials referred to the HIA findings in their budget discussion. Ultimately, the legislature expanded the budget for treatment alternatives by 150% to $2.5 million, a huge increase but only a fraction of what is needed to fully fund such programs. WISDOM, our partner in the HIA, continues to use the HIA to discuss the need for more funding, and as of November 2013, has potentially shepherded another $750,000 toward treatment alternatives. As WISDOM’s state organizer stated, “One of the biggest things the HIA has done is change the question people ask about criminal justice. Instead of being about what people deserve, this gets to be about what actually makes things better.”
The rapid HIA we conducted with ISAIAH on school integration policy in Minnesota was also an innovation for us. The entire HIA was conducted during the legislative session – in 4 months – and was still successful at engaging a diverse set of stakeholders. ISAIAH members, teachers, school administrators, school board members, parents, academics, and racial justice advocates came together to meaningfully discuss and address incredibly challenging questions related to race, segregation, equity, the education system, and health. These discussions and the relationships built through the process will have lasting impacts. The HIA got some good press, was reviewed by legislators, helped improve and pass the proposed bill, advanced other discussions important for education within the state Department of Education, and helped advance discussions about Health in All Policies in Minnesota.
Overall, our work on these HIAs has been inspiring and motivating. We’ve shown that HIA can be used to tackle challenging social determinants of health and we’ve learned how to work with new partners in state and federal policy contexts.
We appreciate the opportunity to share these reflections with you. Please let us know if you have any thoughts to share or feedback for us on our work – we truly value your support and look forward to working with you in the coming year!!
Paper on HIA and Community Organizing
We’re excited to release the paper “Health Impact Assessment: An Effective Strategy to Use in Organizing Campaigns and to Build Community Power.” The paper highlights for community organizers how a health perspective broadly, and Health Impact Assessment specifically, can be an effective strategy to use in organizing campaigns, build community power, and bring about policy wins. We provide background on HIA, brief examples of how it has been used in organizing, a more detailed case study of an incarceration-related HIA conducted in Wisconsin, examples of HIA and organizing wins, and several challenges to doing this work. We also provide some simple steps organizers can take to take to build their capacity around HIA. Thanks much to David Liners at WISDOM and Becky Dennison at Los Angeles Community Action Network for their review of the paper.
San Diego Skatepark HIA: With funding from The California Endowment, HIP is working with Mid-City Community Advocacy Network (Mid-City CAN) and their Youth Council, the Tony Hawk Foundation, and other partners on an HIA that examines the health and equity implications of a skatepark proposal in City Heights, San Diego.
City Heights has an inadequate supply of parks, open space, and recreational opportunities for youth, and obesity rates are higher than the County overall. Mid-City CAN and their Youth Council are advancing a campaign to develop a skatepark in their community. Though possible sites are limited, they have focused on an empty dirt lot currently owned by the city but leased to the YMCA. Future intentions for the site have not been planned or announced. The City Council will also be making decisions for its upcoming fiscal year in early summer, which could possibly provide funding for a park. We anticipate that the HIA will inform and target these decisions. One innovation we’re particularly excited about in this HIA is its explicit goal to empower youth in City Heights through the HIA process.
Health Analyses of CA State Legislative Proposals: The Health Officers Association of California (HOAC) received a grant, also from The California Endowment, to increase knowledge of and capacity to conduct HIA and HiAP projects among legislative staff at the state capitol. Along with Linda Rudolph, HIP is helping HOAC develop and implement the project over the course of the next year.
As many of us practicing HIA are aware, legislative staff who analyze the political and fiscal impact of proposed bills are unaware of the long-term health impacts of these proposals. In an effort to demonstrate how such analyses could be completed, this project will: provide training to legislative staff in HiAP and HIA; include real-time health analyses of 2 to 3 bills in collaboration with those staff; engage stakeholders in the process; and, evaluate and disseminate findings to legislators, public health practitioners, and others on how such work might be more routinely implemented.
We’re excited to see how this project unfolds and what our lessons learned will be, given that so many HIA practitioners talk about what a legislative “health analysis” might look like, and how we can maintain stakeholder participation through the process.
Technical Assistance Projects in Minnesota: With support from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation, the Health Impact Project is funding four new HIAs in Minnesota, and has asked HIP to support the grantees by providing them with training, technical assistance, and mentoring support as the HIAs are being conducted. These HIAs are being conducted by the City of Cloquet, the Goodhue County Health and Human Services, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and the Public Health Law Center.
Please contact us if you’re interested in learning more about any of these projects!
- HIP is hiring for a part-time intern to start work in January. The intern will work alongside HIP staff on 1-2 HIAs or other health analyses of policies and projects in collaboration with community groups, public health agencies, and other stakeholders. Click here to learn more and for how to apply.
- HIP’s holiday wish is to have 300 Facebook likes by the new year! Like our page and share it with friends.
Again, thanks to all of you for your support over the past year! We wish you the best as the year comes to a close, and also wish you a happy and healthy new year.
Peace,
Brooke, Casey, Celia, Fabiola, Holly A., Holly L., Jen, Kim, Jonathan, Lili, Marnie, and Sara
