Subscriber Spotlight: Invest Health

In Spring 2016, 50 mid-sized U.S. cities were selected for the Invest Health program, an initiative to improve health and well-being in low-income neighborhoods through programmatic and built environment interventions. Each city is represented by a team of five individuals who represent a cross-sectoral collaboration of government, health care, non-profit, and other stakeholders. PolicyMap is proud to support Reinvestment Fund and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in their Invest Health initiative.

The Invest Health team wanted to equip participating cities with a mapping resource to analyze and provide context for their place-based work. For the first convening meeting in June, PolicyMap developed a three-page data snapshot for each city, aggregating information on health, equity, civic engagement, environment, food access, transportation and housing. With a PolicyMap subscription and hands-on support from Morgan and Phil, city representatives are encouraged to drill down into neighborhoods and target areas to investigate disparities in health, risk factors, and community assets at the local level. Popular datasets included neighborhood-level estimates we created using CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, our segregation index, and predominant race/ethnicity.

As one of many resources open to Invest Health teams, we at PolicyMap are excited to contribute to this innovative project. Stay tuned for highlights on some of the ways Invest Health teams are incorporating data and mapping into their work.