Most discussions around health care focus on clinical care or health insurance, but that’s only part of the story.
In truth, only 10 percent of health is influenced by clinical care and another 10 percent by genetics. The remaining 80 percent is a result of physical environment, health behaviors and othersocial and economic factors. These include things such as access to housing, education and community connections.
Health in All Policies (HiAP) tackles these social determinants of health by incorporating health equity into decision-making, systems and policies across multiple sectors. In 2015, the Center for Prevention embarked on an initiative to fund eight community-based organizations to design, lead and implement a HiAP approach with equity as a goal. This unique funding initiative put Minnesota communities most impacted by health inequities at the center of driving health equity in policy, systems and environmental change. This community-led HiAP funding initiative has been transformative for major institutions like the Minneapolis Parks System, the City of Duluth, health systems, Metro State University and others, promising to promote future positive health outcomes for all Minnesota communities.
Funded communities used a mix of four core strategies to achieve their policy, practice and outcomes. They activated community leadership, built power collectively, built decision-maker capacity and transformed for racial justice.
For more information on these core strategies, evaluation results for the initiatives as well as stories of community-led HiAP in action, visit the Resources page.
Learn about the initiative:
An animation about the successful strategies to embed health equity in systems, institutions and governments:
Learn about the Center for Prevention’s transformative journey in supporting the work of community-led HiAP:
- Alliance for Metropolitan Stability — advancing racial, economic and environmental justice concerns as part of economic growth and land development in the Twin Cities. WATCH VIDEO
- Asian Economic Development Association — tackling barriers to health by improving environmental factors and supporting small business development in low-wealth communities in St. Paul. WATCH VIDEO
- Hmong American Farmers Association — working to improve the economic prosperity of Hmong farmers through strategic partnerships, capacity building, community engagement and advocacy. WATCH VIDEO
- HOPE Community — bringing sustainable change to under-resourced Minneapolis parks in low-income communities. WATCH VIDEO
- ISAIAH — addressing health challenges by engaging multiracial, interfaith coalitions for civic engagement and community advocacy.
- Nexus Community Partners —creating an equity-based framework for decision-making for environmental justice through the Minneapolis Green Zones initiative. WATCH VIDEO
- Voices for Racial Justice — empowering communities of color and American Indian communities to advance health equity by changing policies and systems. WATCH VIDEO
- Zeitgeist Center for the Arts and Community — building power in communities that experience health inequities to drive a regional health equity agenda in Duluth across a number of decision-making entities, including city government, schools and the health care system. WATCH VIDEO