ABOUT HEALTH

IN ACTION

WHAT IS HEALTH IN ACTION?

Health in Action is a multi-faceted approach to enhancing neighborhood agency and capacity to shape community health outcomes. In collaboration with local community partners, HIA provides funding to innovative community projects through a participatory grant-making process and builds capacity for local organizations through knowledge growth and skills development. HIA promotes participatory decision-making that puts power squarely in the hands of community members.

SNAPSHOT OF THE HIA PROCESS

1. A deliberative panel of neighborhood residents is recruited to support the process.

2. The deliberative panel is then charged with selecting community-based projects to receive funding.

  • Selected grantees, community-based organizations that are invested in improving community outcomes, are funded with grants awarded through the HIA process.

  • They work to implement projects that support goals around community health and building sustainability for their projects.

3. Grantees are awarded HIA grants.

4. Grantees and local community-based organizations attend capacity-building workshops that support obtaining grants, leading projects, and bolstering their organizational capacity.

WHAT MAKES THIS APPROACH SO VALUABLE?


It can provide your organization with:

  • An effective platform for you to sustain community engagement and build long-term relationships with community partners,

  • Community buy-in that supports network- and trust-building, and

  • Builds the capacity of your community partners to support a network of community-driven projects.


It can provide stakeholders in your community with:

  • A platform to engage, set intentions, and make decisions around community projects for funding,

  • Capacity-building opportunities through workshops and technical assistance, and

  • A shift in power dynamics of traditional grant-making barriers for grassroots organizations and how community-based projects are funded.

  • These outcomes lead to long-term sustainability of community-based projects funded through HIA and work towards improving existing community outcomes that bolster equity.

HEALTH IN ACTION IN NUMBERS


HOW WE GOT HERE

Designed by the Bureau of Harlem Neighborhood Health, a part of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Health in Action launched in East Harlem in 2016. Since then, the Bureau has supported many different projects across East Harlem that have brought together community members as panelists to support the decision-making around funding. They have operated HIA collaboratively with team members across practices (ranging from program management to evaluation) to support implementation. The team was awarded funding to launch and support HIA through the New York State Health Foundation with support from the Center for Health Equity at the New York City Department of Health.

THE EAST HARLEM STORY

The Bureau of Harlem Neighborhood Health has implemented Health in Action in different ways based on the funding allocated for each grant period. To learn more about HIA in East Harlem, review the case study.