ABOUT

Residents of the Near Northside neighborhood are caught in a cycle of poor health. They face multiple stressors including health disparities, environmental challenges and public/personal safety threats. This partnership will take steps to address and amend several of these upstream health and safety issues, including building a safe environment through improved infrastructure, and reduced crime and stray dogs; implementing food-as-health and exercise-as-medicine programs; ensuring healthy, affordable homes; and bridging opportunities for residents across sectors.

Targeted Impact

This partnership will address health and safety issues, including: creating safe public spaces; identifying hot spots; creating policy changes; improving the built environment, such as sidewalks, truck routes, and lighting; ensuring healthy homes through assessments, remediation, and repair; and utilizing technology to collect, analyze, and share data.

BUILD PRINCIPLES

BUILD and its communities apply bold, upstream, integrated, local, and data-driven (BUILD) approaches to improve health in communities that are adversely affected by upstream factors.

Bold

Formalizing this partnership through the BUILD Health Challenge reframes the health issues with a broader vision of community safety, and with resources to address many of the contributing, upstream factors adversely affecting community health. This project is taking a fresh approach to addressing safety issues that can create sustainable solutions for resulting conditions such as chronic disease.

Upstream

The social determinants of health that need to be improved include: unsafe neighborhoods, food insecurities, unstable and unsafe housing and lack of health knowledge. Unsafe housing is an even greater threat with roof damage, mold and other hazards exacerbated by Hurricane Harvey. Improvement of these determinants include initiating exercise, healthy food and community programming in parks to discourage crime, and providing affordable asthma and lead-proof housing. This safer, lower-stress, healthier environment serves as a catalyst for improvement of overall health.

Integrated

The neighborhood is unique in both its history and civic engagement, and is ready to maximize its strengths by effectively engaging resident, organizational and government partners for creative problem solving. Avenue, the Houston Health Department, Memorial Hermann Health System and extensive partner networks coordinate and leverage resources in driving systemic change and building a sustainable and complete community.

Local

Numerous resident-led teams are already working toward several goals in the community’s vision for improving health. This project will focus on enhancing leadership among community residents, and connecting residents with allies at the city level to further their goals. Having residents at the table for implementation is key to creating programs or actions that are the most utilized and have the greatest impact.

Data-Driven

Each partner has agreed to collect and share data. All data will be centrally housed on the HIPAA compliant secure Kinder Institute’s Houston Urban Data Platform at Rice University to further facilitate assessment and transparency. The Houston Health Department will also conduct a comprehensive analysis of the interplay between programs and spatial-temporal progress toward goals.

Collaborative Cottage Grove

Aligning health and housing to create a positive and measurable impact in the community
New Brunswick Healthy Housing Collaborative

Ensuring that all New Brunswick residents live in safe homes that facilitate healthy living
Avondale Children Thrive

Creating an environment in which Avondale children, ages 0-6, are able to thrive

BUILD 2.0 Sites

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