Our Focus
Health Equity Partners’ focus is on turning public housing communities into model healthy communities where it is the norm for people to be physically active, make healthy food choices, know and connect with their neighbors and advocate for improvement in the systems and policies that affect their communities.
A key component in our work is the innovative use of community-based Health Advocates as uniquely qualified ‘connectors’ in their communities. These ‘natural leaders’, when properly trained and supervised, are particularly effective in producing community-level activities that promote health, linking people with community resources, reducing risk factors for chronic disease and helping build a stronger community.
One Example
The Salishan Public Housing community is located on Tacoma’s Eastside, one of the city’s most distressed areas. It is the largest public housing community in Tacoma and the most racially diverse public housing community in the state.
Building on previous successful work at Salishan, and with the active participation of the Salishan Community Association, Tacoma Housing Authority, Tacoma/Pierce County Public Health and others, we are hiring, training and supervising a team of community resident Health Advocates as a pilot project for a state-wide effort.
The Community Health Advocates will be able to provide health promotion services and information to other residents, helping them connect with available resources, promote healthy choices and help build a stronger sense of community.
The Advocates also provide feedback to Tacoma Housing Authority, helping them provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services that benefit THA programs. Salishan residents have ownership of this process and are a driving force behind this program.
Other Key Roles We Play
Health Education
We provide a bridge between research and practice, particularly concerning the needs of ethnically and racially diverse communities. We combine our knowledge of best practices with our ability to provide that information to communities and we're skilled in involving them in the development of goals and plans, matching our services to their needs.
Advocacy
Our advocacy efforts focus on developing coalitions to address health-related issues, including childhood obesity, tobacco use, and, broadly, the social determinants of health.
We work with organizations to increase their understanding of public policy and their advocacy skills.
We work within coalitions and networks to inform policy makers about the health implications of their funding and policy decisions on the communities we serve.
We monitor federal and state legislation and regulations to educate our partners on key issues.
Sometimes there are projects that need a little help getting started, or times when matching or challenge funds can inspire others and move a project forward. At those moments, we provide seed money as well as technical expertise. We know that investing in people and causes yields a great return and is a way to extend the impact of what we do.