External Resources Directory

This webinar will discuss health disparities that Native Americans face. It will cover the inter-generational basis for chronic disease disparities among Native Americans and examine Native American culture and history. Presentation by Vanessa Tibbitts, MA, Public Health Education Project Manager at North Dakota State University.

A community food council examines how the local food system operates, and provides policy recommendations to improve that system. A food council is often made up of a diverse group of stakeholders for the purpose of improving the food environment within a particular community.Creating a food council through resolution is a powerful tool that a local government can utilize to interact with the community in policymaking and seek guidance on complex issues. Food councils are becoming more commonly used and have proven to be an effective process for implementing and executing state and local food policies. The resources included in this guide provide direction to local communities seeking to create and implement food councils and increase access to healthy, affordable food.

in 2014, six minority serving national organizations proudly released a booklet showcasing their efforts to close the health disparities gap experienced by racial and ethnic minority groups. Entitled, Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Minority Serving National Organizations (MNO) Success Stories How Six Minority Serving National Organizations are Working to Decrease Disparities, the booklet shares the experiences of the national groups and provides guidance to others committed to eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities through capacity building, education, policy and systems changes, and access to care for improved disease prevention, treatment and management.

• Strengthen and modernize programs governing data to protect personal health information, account for new technologies, and address new security risks as they arise. Most federal and state laws protecting the privacy of health data are years (and in some cases, decades) old. • Establish the equivalent of a Bill of Rights for individuals who wish to access their own personal health data. It should establish clear, equal rights for individuals to obtain their health records, and empower them to make better decisions about their health and contribute to decisions that can improve the health of their communities. • Invest in community data sharing infrastructure and initiatives to create networks that integrate health with social and community services, and support collaboration across sectors. A local data infrastructure is one of the most effective tools for monitoring and improving health across communities. • Launch a broad public education awareness campaign on the value of data use and exchange. The widespread adoption and use of data for improved health depends on helping individuals, communities, and stakeholders see the benefits. • Launch a pilot Code for America data analytics program that creates open-source applications for cities and municipalities to promote greater transparency in public health data. This could be as simple as building a community dashboard that combines data from existing government databases. • Create a Community Resource Scorecard that provides information on how communities are being supported to improve health. The Scorecard would offer common indicators to facilitate comparisons across communities, as well as more granular sub-county and district level data to address their own concerns and interests. • Capture and use data generated by social media to reveal local and national health trends, and improve health across the country. Real time public health data captured through social media platforms are increasingly at the forefront of behavioral measurement, disease surveillance, and health promotion.

In the Road Signs Pedcast (a “walking podcast”), you’ll hear from people on the ground who are building safe and active streets. Each episode discusses one transportation tool that promotes community health. In this first episode, learn about an approach to making existing streets safer—a road diet—with a story from Oakland, California.