Building Healthy Communities

What do banks have to do with health? Each year, the community development sector—a network that includes banks, financial institutions, real estate developers and city planners—spends billions of dollars to revitalize impoverished neighborhoods. The potential health benefits of these investments are huge: whether it is building safe, affordable housing; ensuring sidewalks are included in new infrastructure projects; or financing grocery stores in places that lack healthy food options.

A series of articles published today in the policy journal Health Affairs examines the burgeoning collaboration between the community development and health sectors to build healthy communities. The papers shine a spotlight on several partnerships from across the country, including:

• Healthy Homes, a public-private partnership in Seattle that aims to reduce exposure to allergens in the home that can cause asthma attacks in children
• Partnerships between health care providers and private lenders to finance expansion of federally qualified community health centers in New York and California
• Collaboration between health researchers, developers and the city of San Francisco to revamp Sunnydale, the city’s largest public housing project, and assess its impact on health.
• An initiative from the U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA), Treasury, and Health and Human Services (HHS)to spur operation of grocery stores in urban areas and increase access to healthy foods
• A joint effort by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Federal Reserve System to identify community development and health needs in major US cities.

Everyone has a role to play in improving the health of our communities. By joining forces with banks and other community development organizations, we can tackle some of the most pressing social, economic and environmental factors that affect how well and how long residents live. Get started in your community by reading our tips for working together.