From Start to Finish: Health in All Policies

Health is one of our most precious resources. People everywhere want their families and communities to be healthy and to thrive. But what does it really take to make that vision a reality?

The fact is, health is influenced by the interaction of many factors. It is now widely accepted that the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, and age have a profound effect on how healthy we will be over the course of our lives.

To achieve a healthy community, every part of government has a role to play. That’s the idea behind Health in All Policies (HiAP): to adopt a collaborative approach to policymaking and improve the health of a community. By recognizing shared goals, collaborating, and coordinating their efforts, public agencies can work with the communities they serve to ensure public policies and public resources address local needs and improve health outcomes.

ChangeLab Solutions developed this comprehensive HiAP toolkit for anyone interested in building healthier communities through more collaborative and efficient policymaking, and to offer best practices and lessons learned from community leaders who are doing exactly that.

The toolkit includes the following components:

1. Collaborative Health: A Health in All Policies Video
   This video provides a quick introduction to HiAP. 
2. A Roadmap for Health in All Policies: Your Guide to Win the Policy Marathon
   No matter where a community is starting, this roadmap provides strategies that you can work on today. Over the long term, this roadmap can help you identify next steps on the road toward adopting a Health in All Policies ordinance or resolution that creates and implements a vision of a healthy community!
3. Collaborative Health: A Health in All Policies Presentation
   When you are ready to advocate for a formal policy establishing a HiAP initiative, you can use this presentation to help make the case.
4. From Start to Finish: How to Permanently Improve Government Through Health in All Policies
   This is an introduction to HiAP. Use the 5 key strategies in this comprehensive resource for effectively adopting and implementing one of ChangeLab Solutions’ Commitment to Change Model Policies, which formalize a strong Health in All Policies initiative.
5. Commitment to Change: Health in All Policies Model Policies
   The heart of this toolkit is 3 model policies (ordinance, resolution, and general plan language) that institutionalize HiAP. They offer policy options for communities at different stages of readiness, or that face different opportunities to create change.

Looking for tips on adapting one of our model policies? Do you have an idea for another resource we should add to this toolkit? Contact us with your stories and questions, and for more ideas on how to achieve your vision of a healthier community!