Health in All Policies
Health in All Policies is collaborative approach to improving the health of all people by incorporating health and equity considerations into decision making. Decisions about which streets to repair, where to locate grocery stores or social service providers, or where to open bank branches, all have significant health and equity implications. SCCHI has developed a robust policy initiative that impacts all five of the CHIP priority areas. The collaborative’s Policy Subcommittee has worked to implement a Health in All Policies (HiAP) framework in a variety of settings throughout Summit County. The intent is to integrate considerations regarding health, equity and the social determinants of health into decision-making at various levels of government and business. To date, the SCCHI Policy Subcommittee has worked to implement HiAP in 7 Summit County governmental jurisdictions by convincing them to pass legislation requiring themselves to address the likely impact on health of legislative initiatives. The subcommittee continues to provide technical assistance to those communities for their legislative reviews.
Communities that have adopted HiAP:
- Summit County
- Akron
- Bath Township
- Copley Township
- Richfield Village
- Sagamore Hills Township
- Tallmadge
In addition, the SCCHI Policy Subcommittee seeks out new opportunities to implement policy level changes that support health. For example:
- Three communities have recently adopted smoke-free parks resolutions to reduce exposure to second-hand smoke in public parks, and a number of communities are now considering raising the age at which tobacco can be bought to 21.
- SCCHI advocated in Akron City Council for a “Complete, Livable and Green Streets” ordinance that was passed on May 16th 2017.
- SCCHI is currently working with the Mayor of Akron’s Strategic Planning Committee for Youth Violence to explore options for reducing youth violence.