Building Healthy Communities (BHC) is a 10-year, $1 billion comprehensive community initiative launched by The California Endowment in 2010 to advance statewide policy, change the narrative, and transform 14 of California’s communities devastated by health inequities into places where all people and neighborhoods thrive. They’re doing this by improving employment opportunities, education, housing, neighborhood safety, unhealthy environmental conditions, access to healthy foods and more.
City Heights Building Healthy Communities is locally convened by Mid-City Community Advocacy Network (Mid-City CAN). Our mission is to build a safe, productive, and healthy community through organizing, collaboration, and advocacy. Our Momentum Teams are issue-based neighborhood workgroups where the work gets done! Our current Momentum Teams address transportation justice, food justice, youth leadership, and peace promotion in City Heights.
The Planning Process Beyond Healthy Communities
The goal of our 2018 community planning process Beyond Healthy Communities was to update our collective advocacy campaigns and develop a vision for our work beyond 2020. We did this through a structured process working Momentum Team by Momentum Team and hearing from City Heights residents about what’s important to tackle next. This was done directly with residents of City Heights who live in City Heights or the Building Healthy Communities Initiative boundaries and who are impacted by the issue or subject.
Who participated?
The sessions were for people who:
• Live within the boundaries of City Heights
• Or live within the Building Healthy Communities Initiative boundaries
• And are impacted by the issue, for example, if the cost of transportation creates a financial stress on your family.
Click here to find out how nonresidents, organizational partners, media, observers, others participated.
----
Click here to check out the documents created by each team during the planning process.
Improving Transportation in City Heights
Improving Transportation in City Heights is a momentum team that fights for better, more accessible, smarter, and safer transportation. Our team believes in no-cost transit passes for youth and in collaborating with organizations who fight for this dream.
Participants: residents impacted by public transportation, long travel to school, work, or other, displaced by transit development, safety while travelling, criminalized while travelling, walking, biking, smog or other hazards related to transit developments.
Food Justice Momentum Team
The Food Justice Momentum Team is made up of City Heights community members, including students and parents, who come together to make food in our schools healthy and culturally appropriate for all students.
Participants: residents impacted by hunger, access to culturally or religiously appropriate food, food insecurity, urban agriculture, obesity, or other health impacts related to food access or nutrition.
Mid-City CAN Youth Council
The Mid-City CAN Youth Council develops and empowers City Heights youth through community organizing. We’re a little different from other youth groups in the sense that we don’t focus primarily on the delivery of direct social-services or activities. We lead campaigns that make our community a healthier, safer, more productive place.
Participants: high school-aged youth who live in City Heights. Please note, other than adult support staff who have made arrangements in advance, no external adults may participate. This is to ensure an environment where youth can build power among themselves.
Peace Promotion Momentum Team
Mid-City CAN's Peace Promotion Momentum Team was created by City Heights residents who wanted to foster a safe, fair, and thriving community. The team is now expanding to include many other organizations and community partners who are helping us accomplish that goal.
Participants: residents impacted by violence, community safety, the justice system, disproportionate minority contact, criminalization, school discipline policies, enrollment, truancy, diversion programs.