[Press Release] : MEDIA ADVISORY: Public Health and Human Services Partners on Two Grants Totaling $300, 000

[Press Releases]

MEDIA ADVISORY

Contact: Contact: Stephanie Browning, Director
(573)874-7345 or skbrowni at gocolumbiamo.com

Public Health and Human Services Partners on Two Grants Totaling $300,000

COLUMBIA, MO (November 4, 2011) - Public Health and Human Services Partners with Local Organizations 
 on $300,000 Grants from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and 
 Missouri Foundation for Health

 

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services will partner with two local organizations who have received grants to investigate how a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) might be used in Columbia and Boone County.

 

A press conference detailing the grants and Health Impact Assessments is scheduled for Monday, November 7th from 5:30 ‑ 6:00 pm at Columbia's City Hall, located at 701 E. Broadway. The following representatives will speak and be available for comments:

*Columbia City Council Member, Barbara Hoppe

*Public Health and Human Services, Director Stephanie Browning

*PedNet Director, Ian Thomas

*CMCA Director, Darin Preis

*Missouri Foundation for Health Program Director, Amy Stringer Hessel

 

Public Health and Human Services will work with PedNet, which is the lead on a Roadmaps to Health Community Grant of $200,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Work associated with the grant will strive to improve the long-term health of people in Columbia and Boone County by studying the use of Health Impact Assessments as a tool to help determine health implications of certain projects, policies and programs. With this funding, grantees will use the Health Impact Assessment tool to demonstrate to decision makers the connection between expanded public transit options, employment and health.

 

This project will complement and build upon an ongoing campaign that PedNet and its partners have undertaken to triple public transportation services in Columbia by 2014. As the group is working on its HIA to make the case that increased public transit is good for health.

 

Public Health and Human Services' role in the grant will include:

*The hiring of a two-year, grant-funded Health Impact Assessment Coordinator, to be housed within the department.

*Training of staff on the implementation of Health Impact Assessments

*Completion of a Health Impact Assessment on CoMET and Columbia's public transit system

*Presentation of findings to the Columbia City Council and Boone County Commission

 

A matching grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH), with Central Missouri Community Action (CMCA) serving as the lead, will contribute an additional $100,000 to the project. The Missouri Foundation for Health is a philanthropic organization whose vision is to improve the health of the people in the communities it serves.

 

An HIA is commonly defined as "a combination of procedures, methods and tools by which a policy, program or project may be judged as to its potential effects on the health of a population and the distribution of those effects within the population". HIA is used to evaluate objectively the potential health effects of a project or policy before it is built or implemented. HIA can provide recommendations to increase positive health outcomes and minimize adverse health outcomes. The HIA framework is used to bring potential public health impacts and considerations to the decision-making process for plans, projects and policies that fall outside of traditional public health arenas, such as transportation and land use.

 

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