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| Amy Carroll-Scott, Section Chair |
An idea that came up at our CHPPD business meeting in Denver last November, and which members and leaders have been talking about since, is to
organize a community action for our members and colleagues at this year’s Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Some APHA sections and working groups have done an excellent job of organizing walking or driving tours during the Annual Meeting that draw attention to local needs and/or effective local strategies that address those needs. However, CHPPD members feel they wanted to move beyond a tour by contributing our manpower and resources to actually physically tackle a need in a local community.
I see several benefits to our Section by making this happen this year and, if successful, every year. CHPPD’s vision statement is “A dialog and action nexus for community health planning and policy leaders”. This vision has been easier to achieve on a national level, as this is the scale at which we convene at the Annual Meeting, and engage with each other on APHA and other national policy issues. What has consistently proven more difficult is engaging in local dialog and action in a meaningful way. Although we all come from a local context, and our experiences there shape our perspectives and the majority of our scientific session presentations, we don’t have a natural way to contribute together to a local need or policy in between Annual Meetings. This could be that opportunity. And it should be led by our members who live and work in that local context so we can learn more about the rich fabric of local history, while contributing to an action that meets an identified need.
This could also provide CHPPD with an opportunity to partner substantively with a local community-based organization in each city where the Annual Meeting is held – building stronger ties to the very organizations many of us partner with in our work. Our members have time and again recognized that APHA membership and engagement is difficult for staff of small community-based organizations because the membership fees, registration, travel, and time off are often beyond the means of a small organization. Moreover, it may be less clear to a small organization what the value of APHA and CHPPD membership is to them, when there are no professional rewards for activities such as scientific presentations. Therefore I argue it is incumbent on us to make the case for that value. We can start to do this by offering a community action each year that both highlights effective work of a local community-based organization and provides networking opportunities between organization members at each Annual Meeting. Members have also proposed starting a community-based organization award. This could not only highlight the wonderful work of local organizations to address health, but could also include a cash award to help offset membership or registration fees. Certainly, our work in CHPPD benefits when community voices are better represented in our scientific sessions, business meetings, and leaderships.
Ideas for this action have included a neighborhood clean-up, community garden planting, or building of a playground, and the planning group has decided that this first annual action will be a mural project. We wanted to focus on the built environment because members have consistently told us this is an area of interest for them. Indeed, CHPPD is partnering with the Environment Section on their Built Environment Workgroup, a perfect collaboration of our two Sections’ interests and expertise (if interested in joining, please contact Tony Delucia). As we all know in our work in communities, the characteristics and conditions of the environments in which community members live, work, and play have a significant effect on their mental and physical well-being. Green, safe, and attractive neighborhoods impart feelings of self-worth to residents, and provide more opportunities for walking, exercising, interacting with neighbors, and other healthy behaviors. Thus a mural project, particularly one focused on health and the local community history, is a perfect fit for this first action.
The planning committee is now looking for partners in this effort – local artists, youth organizations, architecture departments, and neighborhood beautification efforts. If you have thoughts about these ideas, or would like to join the planning committee, please contact our community action planning group leader, D.C.-based Michelle Johnson. All are welcome, but consider this a call to action to our D.C.-based members to join this effort. We can’t do it right without you! The event will occur on the Saturday before the Annual Meeting. So if you are interested in joining us, please plan to be here for Saturday when making your travel plans.
As always, for more information about upcoming Section teleconference calls, previous call minutes, and committee and workgroup activities and works-in-progress, please join the CHPPD Insider wiki.
Yours in health,
Amy
Amy Carroll-Scott, PhD, MPH