Healthy Places

Healthy Community Design Initiative: Recent Accomplishments

Health Impact Assessment (HIA)

Established HIA capacity-building pilot programs on the local and state levels in:
- Oregon
- California
- Minnesota
- Wisconsin
- Overall accomplishments
  - Completed 5 HIAs.
  - 14 HIAs in progress.
  - 500 health and planning professionals trained.
  - State-level data resources established.
Developed HIA online training course with the American Planning Association and the National Association of City and County Health Officials ( http://professional.captus.com/Planning/hia/default.aspx). As of Oct 26, 2010,
- 2,205 professionals from planning, public health, and associated fields completed the exit survey.
- 95% stated that content met or exceeded expectations.
Published peer-reviewed study of 27 HIAs completed in the United States from 1999 to 2007 ( http://www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/publications/
AJPM_HIAcasestudies_March2008.pdf [PDF - 411 KB]).
Partnered with Pew Charitable Trust/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health Impact Project (http://www.healthimpactproject.org/) and other organizations involved with HIA to ensure non-duplication of HIA outreach efforts and to bring public health expertise to HIA tracking, tool development, and evaluation of HIA impacts.
Partnered with Pew Charitable Trust to identify all HIAs conducted in the United States and develop an evaluation strategy to assess the health impact results of HIAs. HCDI has identified more than 160 HIAs that have been completed or are in progress as of December 2010.
Led the HIA component of the HHS/HUD Livable Homes and Communities Collaboration.
Sponsored a forthcoming Institute of Medicine report on HIA practice in the United States ( http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/projectview.aspx?key=49158).
Participated in the development of the North American Standards for HIA (http://www.sfphes.org/HIA_Practice_Standards.htm).

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Surveillance

Funded the Bicycling and Walking in the United States, 2010 Benchmarking Report ( http://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/index.php/site/
memberservices/bicycling_and_walking_benchmarking_project/), an ongoing effort from the Alliance for Biking & Walking to collect and analyze data on bicycling and walking in all 50 states and at least the 50 most-populated U.S. cities. As of December 10, 2010, the impact and outreach of the latest report (released in January 2010) was as follows:
- 700 hard copies distributed.
- 3,923 electronic copies downloaded in 61 countries.
- 276 references to the report in print and online media, television and radio, peer-reviewed papers, and other reports.
Funded the American Planning Association’s Comprehensive Planning for Public Health: Results of the Planning and Community Health Research Center. This report highlights the results of a web-based survey used to identify draft and adopted comprehensive and sustainability plans that explicitly address public health ( http://www.planning.org/research/publichealth/index.htm).
Developed community design questions for the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Housing Survey (http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/ahs/ahs.html) and CDC Division of Adolescent and School Health’s School Health Policies and Practices Study (http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/shpps/index.htm), and worked with them to ensure their inclusion in upcoming national surveys.
Developed community design indicators to be added to CDC’s National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network in May 2011 (http://ephtracking.cdc.gov/showHome.action).

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Evaluation

Funded the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) National Partnership on an evaluation of SRTS coordinators in low-income schools around the country. The evaluation showed that a small salary that supports an SRTS coordinator enables the implementation of successful SRTS programs, increasing the number of children walking and biking to school in areas where fewer parental resources exist to build SRTS programs ( http://www.saferoutespartnership.org/media/file/
Health_Evaluation_Feb_2010.pdf [PDF - 539 KB]).
Assisted with the ongoing evaluation of the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program, a Department of Transportation program that funds four communities to invest heavily in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bikeped/ntpp.htm).
Participating on the national review group for the U.S. Department of Transportation-funded National Center for Safe Routes to School (SRTS) to help them devise an approach to evaluating the national SRTS Program.

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Research and Communications

Developed a model curriculum for a public health and community design course, which is being taught in at least three universities (http://www.bephc.com/units/).
Helped incorporate health considerations into the LEED for Neighborhood Development LEED-ND rating system ( http://www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/factsheets/
LEED-ND_tabloid_Final.pdf [PDF - 284 KB]).
Coauthored seven peer-reviewed publications since 2008 on healthy community design topics (http://www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/projects.htm).
Since 2009, has provided 6 dissertation support grants to public health/community doctorial candidates in cooperation with the Association for Schools Public Health. These grants help recipients pursue their studies while receiving guidance and input from CDC experts ( http://fridayletter.asph.org/article_view.cfm?
FLE_Index=13811&FL_Index=1640).
Conducted more than 30 presentations on health and built environment since 2008 at conferences and meetings in the United States and abroad.
Funded the University of Virginia School of Architecture’s Web site Public Health + Built Environment: Course Curriculum (http://www.bephc.com/) that offers an interdisciplinary undergraduate, graduate, or continuing education curriculum in public health and built environment. The site also provides opportunity for faculty and other users to share comments and amendments and to develop collaborations at the intersection of the built environment and health.
Funded an Internet forum created by the American Planning Association that allows planning and public health professionals to discuss relevent topics, communicate views, and exchange information. The forum, (http://planninghealthycommunities.webs.com), formally launched in October 2010. As of November 30, 2010, the forum had 402 members (primarily public health and planning professionals), 26 blog posts, and 5 discussion forums with 16 posts.
Helped fund From Fitness Zones to the Medical Mile: How Urban Park Systems Can Best Promote Health and Wellness, a Trust for Public Land (TPL) report developed as a result of an April 2008 TPL-organized colloquium of 22 leading professionals in the fields of public and mental health, parks, and urban planning. The report includes by TPL’s research and analysis and a search for best practices ( http://www.tpl.org/tier3_cd.cfm?content_item_id=23814&
folder_id=3208).
Convened a Healthy Community Design Expert Workshop of 20 top built environment thought leaders from various disciplines to discuss how to raise awareness among their peers about the health impact of community design decisions. The workshop report is available at ( http://www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/publications/
CDCExpertWorkshopReport_FINAL.pdf [PDF - 394 KB]).
Had 98,463 visits to the Healthy Places Web site (http://www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces) in 2010.
Distribute the Healthy Community Design e-News monthly to more than 1,100 CDC Livability listserv subscribers. The e-News addresses issues related to health and the built environment with a compilation of relevant news articles, latest studies, and updates on conferences and events.
Funded the local Government Commission’s annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference (http://www.newpartners.org) through a conference support grant. The 3-day conference draws an average of 1,400 attendees and provides sessions on cutting-edge smart growth issues, the latest research, implementation tools and strategies, successful case studies, and new policies.
Worked with the SRTS National Partnership to develop best practice guidelines that help communities develop SRTS programs ( http://www.saferoutespartnership.org/media/file/
Health_Evaluation_Feb_2010.pdf [PDF - 394 KB])
Funded SRTS National Partnership’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Curricula Guide to give SRTS practitioners, teachers, school administrators and others the necessary background information to fully understand the positive benefits of teaching bicycle and pedestrian education in the classroom ( http://www.saferoutespartnership.org/media/file/Curr_Guide_2011_lo.pdf [PDF - 6.91 MB]).
Helped the Nashville Metropolitan Planning Organization develop project selection criteria so that future transportation projects that positively impact health will be more likely to be built and funded.
Served on the executive planning committee for the 2010 Congress for the New Urbanism’s 18th Annual Congress (http://www.cnu.org/) to integrate the health and built environment theme New Urbanism: Rx for Healthy Places into all aspects of the conference. The 2010 Congress had the second highest attendance conference in CNU’s 18-year history (1,400 attendees). The collaboration helped influence the 2011 CNU 19 theme, Growing Local, which will explore linkages that urban communities have with local food production, the food economy and the infrastructure that has developed around this symbiosis.
Assisted with development and review of U.S. EPA’s Aging Initiative titled Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging: Training and Demonstration Projects (http://www.epa.gov/aging/bhc/about.htm).
Assisted with development and review of the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council’s Challenge Grants on the impact of urban forests on public health (http://www.fs.fed.us/ucf/nucfac-20100602.html).
Served as the Healthy Communities track chair for the National Healthy Homes Conference in June 2011. This is the first time the conference will have a healthy communities track (http://www.healthyhomesconference.org/).