Pillar #3: Community Health


The third pillar in the theory I've been discussing is community health.  This section dove into why companies should want to invest in communities where they have offices.  There are numerous reasons mentioned, including: investing in health of current/future employees who live in the community, controlling company costs (healthcare), helping to recruit and retain workers, increasing consumer buying power, strenghtening company brand recognition, generating civic pride and a sense of responsibility, building community relations and good will and developing leaders who will promote collaboration and community-based problem solving.  Many of these make sense.  Companies are hiring and working in a specific community - they should want this community to be healthy so that it can provide a worker base that can be productive for them.  Similarly, if a community is healthy, the individuals within that community will have greater buying power and are more likely to use this buying power to purchase from a company that has helped their community.  The last concept that is brought up might be more challenging to understand.  It points to the idea that companies should want to simply do the right thing.  If a company can help the community in which they are working, they should do so.

If this is the motivation behind projects aimed at community health, companies will reap the benefits of a mutually beneficial relationship.  In order for this to happen, a collective impact approach must be utilized.  A backbone of independent and funded staff must be in position to get the movement started.  There must be a common agenda between the company and the community with a shared vision for change.  There must also be agreed upon measurements and indicators that will be recorded.    Finding these common agendas and indicators can only occur if there is continuos and open communication that can build trust between the two sides.  All of these factors are necessary to find success.

One area of community health that I learned of while working on my masters degree that I found especially interesting was the idea of 'the built environment'.  Mark Fenton, a researcher at Tufts, spoke to my class regarding this topic (See his website here).  The built environment refers to the way our surroundings are either encouraging of discouraging physical activity, an integral part of health.  Sadly, there is a stickiness problem with physical activity interventions.  What I mean by this is that when individuals participate in exercise interventions they will often show positive progress, but, when then intervention is over, their activity drops off.  The concept of the built environment aims to make physical activity the easy option for individuals in a community.  Mark drew our attention to four aspects of the environment where we could affect change:

  1. Land Use - Is this an area where people can live, work, shop, play, learn?  Are there compact neighborhoods with open green spaces?  If there is housing on a busy street, is there retail below?  Basically, is the space being utilized properly?
  2. Safety & Access - How safe is the neighborhood?  Can individuals walk or bike without worrying about being in danger?  Engineering can make safety improvements, such as when they implement a physical barrier between cars and bike lanes, thus encouraging biking.  The input of median islands and curb extensionss can also increase safety for pedestrians.
  3. Network - How easy is it to get from place to place?  Are there bike lines and sidewalks?  Is there a quality mode of affordable public transportation?
  4. Site Design - Is the area enjoyable to be in?  Are there trees, benches, art?  Is there open green space?

All of these aspects can be improved via partnerships between companies and communities.  One company could potentially focus on increasing the amount of green space for the public to enjoy while another company could work with their engineers to design safer routes for pedestrians, through sidewalks and barriers.  A single company does not need to take on every aspect in one fell swoop.  If a variety of businesses come into a community, they should lean to their strengths and choose where they might be the most helpful in developing that community.

-Vicky







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